A Lion's Roar
by swagmoney5
Summary: Being reincarnated is an interesting life story, when a child from our world is reborn as Hinata Hyuga, she decided to get off of her ass and give her shot at being a hero. When you have too much knowledge and too much time, the only option is to train and become stronger and to make those around her stronger as well. Survival of the fittest and she wants to help everyone survive.
1. Life or Death:Prologue

Have you ever daydreamed about being kidnapped or held at gunpoint, some kind of life or death situation that you somehow found yourself being the hero and saving everyone while ingeniously defeating the bad guy. I lived in that situation...but like the borderline mediocre human I am...it didn't end in articles about my awesomeness or the saved giving me a million dollars. Nope, I died. Like, movies really let you down because guess what, being shot trying to be a hero makes you die.

My death was still pretty awesome, it hurt and it was borderline traumatizing. If I just minded my own business instead of pretending to be some badass hero like in every fantasy situation like ever... I could have lived to reach old enough to at least drive or something but at least in the end I saved someone else.

Now me being the person I am thought that since life felt me a shitty hand at being a basic unwanted orphan abandoned because of the worlds skyrocketing population that when Is do something heroic I'd become a (poor) Batman or something but nope. I guess I reached the epitome of a tumblr kids dream, death.

That brings us full circle to how my story begins I guess. I was walking home from school after my practice ran late and I was walking past one of the many allies on my way home. I heard scuffling and suppressed cries when me being the curious idiot I am, wanting to be like Spider-Man or something, walked in the ally to check it out. Before heading in I called 911 and gave them my location just in case. I'm a teen, not completely stupid. I went deep into the alley and with the fading flicker of yellow light from the light shining from inside the buildings windows, I could see a few mangy men picking on a girl who is probably 8 or 9, them trying to do one of the most horrific acts ever.

Seeing this made my blood run hot and I was filled with rage for these despicable men trying to deflower such a young girl. I don't know any real fighting styles per-say but I do know how to throw a nasty right hook and thats exactly what I did. Of course being young and female, I wasn't as large or as strong as the 3 men together but with the element of surprise and some luck from my gymnastic flexibility I at least got a few good knocks in before I saw the silver glint.

Freezing in my tracks I heard the gun go off but I felt nothing. All the noise around me faded and I could barely hear the faint sounds of sirens and screaming. When I tried to focus my eyes I could see the flash of red and blue, that flicker of police lights flashing, lighting up the slowly darkening sky.

I may barely be considered out of the age bracket of a snot nosed brat but as soon as I was hit in the chest...I knew. There was no way I was going to survive this. It didn't even hurt...well at least after the bullet jammed into my abdomen and I went into shock or something. It was just peaceful.

Like I accepted my death and the world was repaying me by letting it not hurt...If I was going to live it would have hurt right? I'm almost positive no surgery or heart transplant could work fast enough so with the last bit of stupid optimism I had, I accepted my death with the happiness that I saved the little girl finally becoming like the heroes I so wanted to be. I mean other than the dying pert, but every great hero has died at some point, I just got unlucky and mine was before I even made it fully through puberty.

Of course, I though that when I died I'd be sent to either heaven or hell or whatever happens after you die, and it would be all bright and beautiful or hot and fire filled but I got neither. As soon as I came back to consciousness or whatever you call waking up in your afterlife, I opened my eyes I saw nothing. It was pitch black and I felt kind of cramped but also safe in this warm, black, slimy cocoon.

Its kind of weird, if this is how the afterlife is it sucks and is super boring, even with the safety of the cocoon, it could still be hell because there is no way I'd stay sane in this darkness. After what felt like weeks being trapped in my weird hell, my brain fuzzed in and out constantly, it was like I couldn't think for more than a minute before going unconscious. And I still couldn't move, sometimes I got my legs to stretch but not really, it was frustrating.

I began to get squeezed tightly and forced headfirst downward. After I don't know how long, that feeling of a snake squeezing me was not fun, maybe that was my formation into a demon or something gross. I was free and I immediately felt around me. I was freezing, the cocoon was warm and now it's cold.. and dark. I couldn't really get my eyes open, it felt like they were covered in a sludge, gluing them closed, but I was free to move.

I felt a sense of relief until I felt something hit my ass super hard. I gasped and let out a whimper then a scream. I couldn't control the wails that came from my mouth, something was scrubbing my body and it was horrible.

Everything was blurry. It was hard to see anything, there were blobs of shapes and loud noises but I felt really distorted. I felt something warm wrap around my cold body and someone's arms (probably God's) were around me holding me like a baby. I let out a sigh of relief then tried to raise my arms to touch God. I failed, it was like my body didn't want to listen to anything I told it to. Instead, I just forced my blurry as shit eyes downward to my non-functioning limbs. I was annoyed, I didn't need glasses as a kid so do I need them now, is bad eyesight a demon trait or something.

It was still slightly blurry like wearing foggy goggles, but I could make out an arm that was not mine. It was tiny and fat and a freaking baby hand. I tried to come up with any excuse, I mean, waking up as a baby is unreasonable. I'm pretty sure the bible said angels are covered in eyes and have 4 giant wings, they are not little cherub babies. Oh god, what if demons are really just babies, thats why parents look so miserable the first few years of life.

My mind went blank for a second then everything made sense, the scrubbing, my inability to stay awake, how I can barely move, the itching under my skin. Fuck my life, I am such a screw up, I can't even die properly. Honestly, the only explanation would be that I've been re-born and whether it is a gift or a curse (probably a cruse because who the hell wants to remember life when trapped in a shitty baby body) I still have memories of my past life, I don't know.

All I know is I'm a fucking scrawny ass baby. At least I'm a girl still and wasn't born as a dude... i think, there is no blurry little nub of a penis so I should be fine. As fun as it would be to helicopter (**A/N I hope you guys know what this is.**) and not have to worry about a period, I'd still rather be female. God, if I was a guy, I might riot.

I'm no dumbass so knowing I was reincarnated with my memories is going to make life a hell of a lot more interesting, I get to be seen as a real genius now, at least until other people my age catch up to me, actually that is a terrible thing. Fuck the geniuses, they either do great or terrible things and that is a lot of pressure. Letting my mind relax I could feel some weird warm feeling inside of me.

It's flowing, can babies feel their blood flow is that why they cry so damn much? Getting too freaked out by the warm tingling inside of me, I decided to observe my surroundings but it proved fruitless because my eyes were too weak to see very far ahead of me. That's going to be a pain, I need to talk and walk as soon as possible, sitting still all the time is not going to be fun at all. I still haven't been given to my mom yet so thats what I'm looking forward to, hopefully she want's me.

In my past life, I was an orphan. I had no tragic story just that neither of my parents wanted me so I was put in an orphanage and never got adopted so to fill that void, I studied hard, I worked my ass off to be the best in sports, and I needed out with the best of them. I was obsessed with anything that had to do with superheroes and anime. Anytime I wasn't practicing or doing schoolwork, I was watching anime or reading comics or fantasizing about myself if I was a character in those shows and comics and what I would do different. It was all pointless dreams, I was always too afraid to take the leap, nobody cared what a kid orphan could do, I was nothing.

A person came and picked me up, well at least I think so. Everything was still fading in and out of focus but their arms were warm. I snuggled into the warmth, yawning. I was tired, my brain wasn't built for this much activity at such a young age. They said something but it felt like I was underwater and could only make out them saying something about my mother.

I woke up later, feeling still sluggish, at least my eyesight was a bit less blurry and it felt like the gunk was gone from my ears. That made everything that much louder though, it was intense, the sounds of the monitors and people talking. That wasn't the worst, it was that feeling of my blood, still flowing through by body. It was itchy, right under my skin, foreign and terrible. I whimpered and was rocked back into comfort. The blob of a person cooing and hushing me softly. They put a hand on my small stomach and rubbed it, it soothed the itch of my skin and I let my eyes close once again.

I was nestled into a different set of arms this time, it was warm, comforting. Like being swaddled in a blanket while reading a book on a snow day. I felt more safe than I ever had. The arms were soft, warm, holding me like I was the most precious thing in the world. A single finger stroked between my eye's soothingly, cooing at me softly. I tried to open my eyes but her hands were so soft, the feeling on my head was so tiring.

"She's a beautiful girl, what would you like to name her Hyuga-sama?" I stopped falling into my sleep the best I could, was I hallucinating. Hyuga is definitely a made up name, what the hell. I forced my eyes open and looked up, the woman holding me smiled down at me, it was soft and sweet. She had long dark hair and although her features were somewhat blurry, I could tell she was absolutely beautiful. The thing that made me choke was her eyes, they were pale lavender, almost a milky white color with no pupil, it was too uncanny. Maybe I really did die and am now living out some fantasy book or some shit.

"Hinata. Hinata Hyuuga" A deep voice responded from beside me, I froze. No freaking way, this is some kind of bullshit, what the hell. Is fate playing a game with me? I'm Hinata motherfucking Hyuga. Oh fuck I'm Hinata Hyuga that means that my father is the forever asshole Hiashi Hyuga.

Fuck, I'm the shitty cast aside heiress, I'm supposed to be some timid princess. If I'm here, does that mean I killed Hinata. Oh god, I killed somebody. Am I a murderer now?

Why couldn't I be reborn into a normal life with some normal parents and not the fucking Hyuga clan, does that mean I'm going to be branded if I can't do anything right?

I looked once again at my parents and I noticed the pure love and happiness expressed within both my parents eyes and I couldn't help it but to give them a gummy smile, they just were so warm. Even if I was going to grow up ostracized, I was going to bask in the warmth and love of parents just this once.

"You're so beautiful my daughter." My mom cooed, her fingers rubbing my head softly. "Are you hungry my sweet?" I blinked owlishly up at her, I was hungry. I was hungry but I was a baby. Oh no. Carefully she lifted up her hospital gown and I squeezed my eyes shut, letting her guide my mouth to drink.

I latched onto her, it was like I had no say, my body was hungry so it drank even when I didn't want to. Slowly, the warmth of her skin and the filling of my tummy, I fell asleep, the soft scent of jasmine and honeydew wrapping around me soothingly.

Knowing how this world works, I felt relieved and more stressed out at the same time because death lies at every corner but with my knowledge I can finally be a real hero and save so many but before I can do any saving, I'm going to have to figure out chakra and learn to walk. Minor details.

Its been about 2 months since I've been taken home and I think my father is on to me. Maybe not exactly knowing that I was reborn or whatever but he knows something is off about me. He is always staring at me with these calculating eyes that are kind of offsetting because they are the same eyes I used to have whenever I was assessing somebody else breaking them down to their core to figure them out. Its kind of freaky to know that somebody is doing to me what I do to others.

I know that he first became suspicious of me a few weeks ago when he and his brother Hizashi were having conversation and I was paying close attention to them analyzing the situation when Hizashi said,"She's watching us so intently, Do you think she can understand us?" Hizahsi joked, giving my head a soft rub. My dads eyes shifted from Uncle Hizashi to me in an instant and I tried to pretend to look away like I didn't understand them, but I don't think he believed me because he moved their conversation elsewhere and the watching started that day.

Knowing how smart he is, I know its only a matter of time before he figures me out. Trying to hide as a prodigy might be harder than to just be myself, being a clan head's daughter at least means Danzo can't snatch me up even if I'm considered a prodigy, solely because I remember bits from my world.

_(Timeskip)._

Along with studying everything around me to formulate a plan, Ive been trying to find and release my chakra. I know that Chakra coils develop with force or with age and I don't have time to wait until I'm 5 for some use of chakra so Every singe day I've been meditating to find my chakra. It's a lot more difficult because everytime I find that flicker of warmth and try to use it it disappears. Its honestly almost as frustrating as trying to get my weak ass body to walk. I was able to move more than just my head at the ripe old age of 3 months which shocked my parents to death when one day I just rolled into the kitchen and waited for them to notice me.

Immediately my mother picked me up and spun me around cheering at how proud of "her little prodigy" she was while my dad just had a proud smirk etched on his face.

With that moment I vowed to keep them proud of me because it felt amazing to have parents who love me and were proud of me. There is definitely something to be said about ninja children, bodies develop way faster to do menial things like crawling and having vocal chords that work way earlier than normal children. I guess that's how kids can graduate the academy at 5.

Me being the somewhat attention whore and wanna be prodigy I am decided that when I finally revealed I could talk it wouldn't be some wimpy ass word, but I would immediately speak in full sentences. If they were shocked at my crawling I couldn't wait to see how they react to my talking. Of course they reacted as I expected, shock turned to proud turned to smug.

I was really bored and had nothing to do in my tiny mute baby body so I decided to finally talk. Giggling as I set my plan in motion, I crawled into my fathers office and crawled up on his lap while he was working. I knew this was something that pissed him off so before he could 'scold' me I put on my cutest baby face, widening my eyes and tilting my head slightly and I asked:

"Papa, I wanna learn read." My father hummed yes absentmindedly until he stopped abruptly and looked down at me with wide eyes. I couldn't always do full sentences, some words were just more diffiuclt to say than others with my baby tongue and shitty growing vocal chords so I just did my best, waiting fro my voice to come in fully. At least in this world people develop faster right, I mean have you seen Kakashi as a kid?

"Did you just... talk?" He asked me in almost disbelief. " Yes Papa. I'm bored so teach me read" I pouted. Blinking slowly he nodded a yes. "Hinata how long have you been able to talk."

"Dunno" I paused studying his reaction intently to see how what response would be most acceptable. "Uh, think since forev, I kno' words just can' get mm out." Father looked at me again like I was an alien until he picked me up gave me the faintest smile that turned into a smirk. I knew that smirk it was his 'my daughter is a prodigy and better than any of your children' smirk and I gigged in glee.

"Hinata, does this mean you have been able to understand me the whole time" I nodded.

"Papa, thats why I wanna read..Read ch-chaka so I can be strong too." Yet again I think I left my father shocked as he walked out of the office and went to find mother to inform her and hopefully 'teach me how to read' since I totally don't know how to already.

Finally! I finally got this tiny little body to walk. It took forever but now that my bones are a bit stronger I can finally walk around without falling. It may not be the most graceful and I sure as hell cannot run but I can walk and no longer have to move around like a damn dog.

Mother and Father of course were so proud of me but less shocked more and more with how advanced and prodigious I gave proven to be. Haha yeah right, just a lucky kid with memories of not being a baby.

Along with walking I've proven to my parents that I am a proficient reader and can read books all alone so I am not bored all of the time. Now that I am ready to go I can finally focus on my chakra and getting bigger and stronger so I can actually do other ninja training. The sooner I train the stringent I get. I have no hax I have to buckle up and train my ass off to be remotely strong enough to live through this.

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**I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does and I just am using it to make a fun story.**

**Its a romance, angsty, goofy but not quite crack, book for fun and to make changes in ways I haven't seen done yet.**

**This story is a romance but doesn't really revolve around the romance for certain things, will ave a lot of action more so than romance for the most part! It's made to change up some things I liked or didn't like and playing with the idea of a girl going into the world on Naruto and actually wanting to be a hero in her own right as well as making the lives better for those who got fucked in the Manga/Anime.**

**This story was rough in the beginning, I did not know what I was doing but the story definitely gets way better and the power-scaling evens out pretty quickly for those of you worried about that. So I'd like it if you give it a read at least through the first 7-ish chapters...but if you don't oh well. This is meant to be enjoyed and I hope you do like it. Personally I plan of editing a lot of the first 5 chapters at some point but I'm going to finish this fic before I do that. Constructive criticism is welcome so yeah...but also don't be a dick to mine or other peoples stories because people work hard on them...yeah**

**So I wanted to put this out there explaining what will happen for the next few chapters so people wont go and shout OP or Maru-sue so soon. In a lot of Fanfic..I definitely like these but just saying...people always make it if a character is reincarnated, they either become evil, are useless, reveal their identity too early and do nothing to actually change the plot, or are like super PTSD and weak and don't want a ninja life so when a character like what I'm working on actually wants to be strong and works to do it, they are OP because they are young but hear me out. If you were born in somewhere like Naruto and knew things on how to power up faster and what to change...wouldn't you do the same thing and get stronger sooner than other characters...then help those characters also get stronger faster than they did in the Manga/Anime? I mean it stands to reason that if you know how to become stronger from what characters trained like or you know how chakra works and ways to get stronger through training and you had the ability to practice and learn right when you can walk, you'd be way more impressive way sooner than a lot of the other kids your age in the Shinobi world (bar Kakashi and Itachi)...at least that's what I think would happen.**


	2. It's my life

Let me tell you something. Chakra sucks. It is the most frustrating thing I have ever worked on in my life I have read book after book on how to unlock chakra but none of them truly explain the agony I have gone through trying to unlock my chakra. Maybe its harder for me because I'm a baby but still. It's absolutely obnoxious. I know as a baby I'm going to have a weak amount of chakra but to barely be able to grasp it at all, it makes me want to bull my hair out and throw a tantrum. And I know I can because I'm still a baby...kinda petty but oh well.

That weird buzzing I felt as a baby wasn't my blood but my Chakra. I can feel it moving inside of me to let me live, but It's so small that I can't form chakra at all, it is locked within my chakra pathways since my Tenketsu points aren't open and even if I can feel my chakra, I still have to pull enough out to allow it to become useful, not just spiritual energy. It should be easy since I can feel it keeping me alive, but no it just has to be so freaking hard. If I didn't want to be such a strong ninja and save everyone, I would give up on forcing my chakra, but nope my stubborn ass is going to keep going with the demon known as Chakra.

I lay on futon in my room and I laugh and cry. It nearly took me almost two years since I was born but I got it. Usually I would find my chakra center and try to pull it out of me so it could actually flow through my chakra coils to start the process of using it but each time I found the warmth of my chakra, it would snap back and continue to just do nothing but keep me alive. It was like when pulling on a rubber band and then letting it go so it snaps back into place.

About 2 months after I turned 1 I was sitting on my floor meditating when I felt that little warmth within me. Expecting it to fade away like every other time I was about ready to quit when I realized it hasn't left me yet. Freaking out, I concentrated and pulled as hard as I could to get the chakra to flow throughout me. Pushing myself harder and harder I finally felt that small wisp of warmth flow throughout my body. I got so excited that I broke my concentration and squealed in joy.

I immediately got up and toddled over to my parents and told them that I finally found my chakra. I got excited thinking dad would begin to train me but I was so wrong. My dad handed me a book titled: To Open Your Tenketsu. He told me knowing and perfecting this was the next step if I wanted to use chakra and be a good Hyuuga heir. I responded with a sad "Hai Otousan. Thank you." If I thought finding my non-spiritual chakra was hard, opening my Tenketsu points was damn near impossible.

Basically there are 361 Tenketsu points along the chakra network and each of these points controls the flow of chakra, as well as push out chakra in order to use Justus and stuff. Being a Hyuuga it is 100 percent necessary to have perfect control over all 361 Tenketsu points as well as knowing where they are. My next step in forced chakra use was to manually open all 361 of the points. Because I'm still only a toddler none of my Tenketsu points have opened yet and if I want to accelerate my training and achieve my goals I have to open them up myself.

Opening Tenketsu points was the bane of my existence for a while. First of all it was hard to open them. Each point took me many hours when I first succeeded to open them. Granted overtime it became easier but thats not it. It hurt like hell when I was opening them. It really strained my body and chakra when each point was opened so I couldn't open too many at one time or I'd pass out from the surge of Chakra and the pain. It sucked.

After about 8 months of opening my Tenketsu, I finally succeeded in opening all of them. When the final point opened it was terrible and magnificent. I could feel the difference in my flow of chakra as well as the newfound true power surging through me. This moment finally solidified that I was actually in Naruto. this realization caused me to break down.

There was so much I wanted to do and so many people that were stronger than me and I realized that I might be screwed. There was so much pressure I put on myself to save everyone that I didn't even notice until now. In my past life this kind of pressure was what made me shut down sometimes, but now it just made me more determined to succeed.

Months after my second birthday, My father decided it was time to start training. I may be a genius, well as of right now, but that doesn't mean I know anything about actual fighting. I've seen and been in a few fist fights but that is nothing compared to what taijutsu is. I really hated chakra training but I'm super excited for taijutsu training. This is the closest thing I will get to sports here and so at least I get to keep the physical activities. Even if its different physical training than gymnastics and basketball, it will still hopefully give me the adrenaline from getting in shape and training.

My first day of training with father, I woke up and put on the clothes a maid left on the bed for me. It's nothing special to look at but it is damn comfortable. I made my way to the center of the main families compound and walked into the training field where father was waiting for me, his face as stoic as ever. "Mornin' papa. I am ready for my training." I greeted while tying my shoulder length navy hair back into a ponytail.

As much as a sweet person Hinata was I will not do with the bowl cut hair. She had to wear it as a sign of failure, it's sad but I have to be different and I'm not forced to cut my hair so I'm not going to. I like my hair long and bold and thats what Im going to do with my new body. If im going to change the outcome of Hinata's life, hell it's my life, I might as well look the part, starting with my hair. We aren't the same, I can't be her. I'll never be her.

"For you to be a strong taijutsu fighter and to learn the Hyuuga gentle fist, you must be physically strong and fast, have precise movements, and know the body through and through with and without your byakugan. I know you are young but you are the clan heir and a prodigy. I expect you do everything perfect. There is a training schedule I will go through with you until you are ready for taijutsu. Do not disappoint me."

"Yes papa" I responded quietly.

My training schedule was heaven and hell rolled up into one for the first few weeks of training. Every morning I would wake up and run laps around the training area for a little bit and had to up my time per lap and length I would run the easier it got. Immediately after I went through my first hour of laps, I had push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, jumping jacks, and squats. When I would finish my sets I would have a 5 minute break then back to running laps for 30 minutes. When that was over Father would instruct and correct me in basic Katas.

To end off I would have another head hyuuga female member come in and coach me on flexibility. When I was finished with all of that I would have 2 Hours of chakra control and meditation where I would have to stick leaves to myself and hold them. My final bit of training was mental training where I would have to sit and study books and diagrams about where every Tenketsu point is and what it does, as well as know everything there is to know about the human body inside and out starting from the cells outward.

As much as I loove running in circles , Katas and flexibility training was my favorite physical training because it came as a second skin to me thanks to my training in my past life. Katas was not like gymnastics in the movement but in the memorization and fluidity it worked similar. I still detest chakra because of the grudge I hold but I do have to admit that now that all of my chakra points are opened, chakra is super easy for me to use. I think I'm always aware of it running through me because there was no chakra in my old world so now I'm just hyper aware of it so its easy to use.

Studying human anatomy was one of the more easy things to do because I spent so much time studying in my past life that I knew a ton about the human body before. I probably know more than most shinobi in this time because they don't have all of the advancements that we did so that already gives me a huge advantage. I spent a lot of time working on chakra and Tenketsu studying. Every free moment I had I spent studying on anything and everything to prepare myself. Orochimaru would be proud and probably jealous of my knowledge of the human body. I just need more understanding of Chakra but Im getting there.

Even if father is a stone cold asshole most of the time, I knew he was happy with my training and progress because he never hit me or got angry with me telling me I'm weak like he did with the other Hinata. He would simply watch me and remind me to not disappoint him. Now that I'm not a baby thats probably as much praise I will ever receive from him. His training was harsh and I knew it would only get more difficult as I get older, but I did it anyways. If I want to be strong enough to protect and save people, I have to train nonstop. I need to be like Lee, I may be smart and seen as a prodigy, but it is not solely based off of luck like others, I will train my hardest to be strong.

After a few months of nonstop conditioning my brain and body, Father decided I was ready for real taijutsu. This is what I've been looking forward to since I could walk. I decided that for my taijutsu to be most effective I would need have a good mix of using Hyuuga style and my own style. Every night since I was born I have been strategizing the perfect taijutsu style for me to use to be most effective. Because I'm female its physically impossible for me to naturally be as strong as a boy so I know to enhance my attacks with chakra and on impact to expel it like Sakura does in shippuden.

That is my only chance to have external physical attacks do that much damage. The downside to Sakura's fighting was it was slow, left her open for counter attacks, and was predictable. To counteract that downside I decided to incorporate my speed and gymnastics into creating a fast heavy hitting attack that was heavily reliant on continuous movements and dodging. It's almost like a deadly dance of speed, grace, and power. With all of my training I could also make that style deadly by having my hits be unpredictable with patterns that continuously change so it seems to be random. It's not fool proof, not even in the slightest but it will hopefully be successful enough to keep me alive.

I was finally able to start executing this fighting style when I learned katas and about taijutsu so that it would actually become a fighting style not just a chakra dance. Because I'm the Hyuuga heir I also have to learn how to use the gentle fist. I do not have enough strength to utilize my Byakugan yet so my training in gentle fist was solely based off of my knowledge of where points are on the body.

The struggle with this was that the Tenketsu points on the body are extremely small and not having my Byakugan made it almost impossible to actually hit any spots. I would hit close but never perfect. It was perfect training because I have all of the movements down but the actual use of the gentle fist technique, unless it was to attack muscles and tendons, was a failure.

My failure of perfect execution of gentle fist was the first time I've ever experienced father mad at me. I tried to execute the proper movements against him this time and I would always manage to mess something up or fall on my ass. Normally father is stern and quiet but never angry with me, through my countless fails at gentle fist, his anger became apparent and I was terrified. He has this silent rage that you can see and feel and its suffocating. Instead of telling me to not disappoint like usual, he would say I'm a disappointment.

The first few times I cried over my failures and fathers disappointment and now I can start to understand why Hinata was so shy. It's hard to have father talk down to me and be so filled with anger and disappointment. Instead of breaking, I used it as fuel to my fire and worked extra hard to grow my strength and chakra reserves so that I can unlock my Byakugan.

The day I finally was able to unlock my Byakugan was a proud day for me. I got so mad at father for speaking down to me for the past 8 months about my gentle fist that my rage took over and I felt chakra pulsing to my eyes. Allowing it to happen suddenly everything became more clear and I could faintly see fathers chakra points. I let out all of my anger and punched my unsuspecting father as hard as I could, knocking the air out of him and sending him to his knees. I knew I had a smug look on my face and I couldn't control it.

As much as I love him, his words are overly harsh, if I was more sensitive, I would be crushed. The day I awakened my Byakugan and gave him a nasty gut shot, I gained fathers praise again. The proud look returned in his eyes and even if I wanted to stay mad I was too proud of myself to try. I was so happy I couldn't hold it in so I ran up and gave him a big hug. Surprisingly he gave me a gentle hug back then straightened himself out and said is a gentle tone "do not disappoint me." I couldn't help the grin from spreading as I giggled.

"Yes Papa."

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** I don't own Naruto..that is Kishimoto's baby, I just fucked with the plot and character power levels and stuff. Chapters get longer as this evolves into a serious yet also crack-fic**

**So I wanted to put this out there explaining what will happen for the next few chapters so people wont go and shout OP or Maru-sue so soon. In a lot of Fanfic..I definitely like these but just saying...people always make it if a character is reincarnated, they either become evil, are useless, reveal their identity too early and do nothing to actually change the plot, or are like super PTSD and weak and don't want a ninja life so when a character like what I'm working on actually wants to be strong and works to do it, they are OP because they are young but hear me out. If you were born in somewhere like Naruto and knew things on how to power up faster and what to change...wouldn't you do the same thing and get stronger sooner than other characters...then help those characters also get stronger faster than they did in the Manga/Anime? I mean it stands to reason that if you know how to become stronger from what characters trained like or you know how chakra works and ways to get stronger through training and you had the ability to practice and learn right when you can walk, you'd be way more impressive way sooner than a lot of the other kids your age in the Shinobi world (bar Kakashi and Itachi)...at least that's what I think would happen.**


	3. Friends shouldn't be taken for granted

My third birthday is about a week away and I've been dreading it. I know this is when I'm supposed to be kidnapped, Neji gets the cursed seal, and Uncle Hizashi dies in place of father. I don't want this to happen, nobody deserves to lose their father at such a young age, and the curse seal is such a terrible invention, I am honestly sometimes ashamed to be apart of a clan that would partake in such traditions.

I have spent the last year trying to find Neji so we can build a bond that will have hopefully lasted through my birthday so he doesn't end up hating me for 10 years but because he is a branch family member I have never been able to get close to seeing him. I have rarely seen Uncle Hizashi and one it is only so father can subtly rub my prodigious self to Uncle Hizashi to prove head family members are better. This whole branch and head family thing is such bullshit and I cant wait to end it when I become clan leader.

Back to the birthday thing. I have been trying to figure out a strategy to solve the issue of Uncle Hizashi's death and my kidnapping but I'm not sure how. I mean sure I've gotten pretty string in my fighting but I don't think that will match up against full fledged Kumo ninja especially if they could kill someone as strong as Uncle Hizashi.

For the whole week I've been super stressed running through thousands of different scenarios in my head but none of them end up satisfactory. The stress has taken a toll and mother noticed how disheveled I looked the day before my birthday.

"Hinata-hime whats wrong?" As soon as she asked I ran to her lap, tucked my head in her stomach and began to bawl

"Okaasan I'm so scared."

"Of what hime?" I knew I had to make up a lie so I embraced my inner canon Hinata.

"My birthday okaasan. There's going to be so many people. What if they don't like me or don't think I should be clan heir. What if something goes wrong." Rubbing circles in my back, mother calmed me down whispering about how everyone has to love me because I'm so cute and strong and smart and nice. Mother is the kindest person and gives me all of the fluffy love father doesn't. Her calming presence and overwhelming love helped me calm down and I ended up falling asleep with her holding me like the child I still am.

The next morning I woke up better rested than I have been this whole month and mother was waiting for me. She picked me up and put me in the bath making sure to wash me with my soap that I can only use for special events. It smells faintly of lavender and makes me smell so nice for the whole day. Mother was being extra gentle with me today because of my breakdown yesterday and I can't help but thank her for how wonderful she is. Once I was dried off, she began to do my hair into a fancy spiral bun with red roses intertwined and a few curled pieces of hair to frame my face.

I never had fancy hair like this but I couldn't help but fall in love with how beautiful my hair looked. Being Hinata, has changed me I think because I would have never been girly like that but now I cant help but love the feeling of looking like a princess. Then mother helped me into a beautiful white kimono with golden trim and blue floral accents and a black obi with a red sash. I truly looked like a princess and It momentarily helped me forget what was going to happen today as she led me to the party in a different area of the compound.

I looking down at my feet walking behind my parents, nervous of all the eyes on me as well as if my plan was going to work when we stopped. Looking up I saw Uncle Hizashi. Oh my gosh I'm finally going to meet Neji. He's going to be so Kawaii while he's not such a dick about destiny. Stepping out from behind my parents I began to carefully study Uncle Hizashi. He smiled at me and wished me a happy birthday. I would have believed it to be truly genuine but the ever so slight muscle twitch in his small smile and barely there fluctuation in his tone of voice let me know that he was probably dreading this day as much as I was. No parent wants to see their kid branded with something that gives someone else total control over them.

Looking down from Uncle, I saw Neji standing beside him. Neji fidgeted slightly smiled at me and I smiled back with the biggest and most friendly smile I could muster. I walked over to Neji I grabbed his hand. "Hi I'm Hinata, you must be Neji-san. I think we are cousins but I'd rather call you Neji-nii because then we can be like siblings. I don't have any and neither do you so I just thought we could." I rambled happily trying to form somewhat of a bond hopefully to lessen hi hate for me in the future if my plan fails.

"Hello Hinata-hime" Neji said with a bow "I believe it is alright if you call me Neji-nii I would like a little sister to look after." I giggled I happiness. After our introductions, father had me go with him and Neji and Uncle Hizashi to a small chamber where I knew Neji would receive his curse seal. I felt so bad for Neji especially as he cried out in pain. All while my ever stoic father explained to me the workings of the cursed seal as well as the roles of the branch family. I disagreed with him but knew not to say anything so that I can keep my position if heir before Hanabi comes so that I can make a change.

After I met Many of the clan council and important members and wooed them with my charm and prodigy-ness, The party wound down and I went to bed, kunai in hand ready for my kidnappers. After a few hours I heard my door open and I began to shake. I finally realized that me fighting back could kill me again and I really didn't want to die. I got so scared tears began to fall and I froze almost ruining the plan I had stressed about over and over.

As soon as I felt my sheets be ripped off of me, I sucked in a deep breath, jumped up and slashed at whoever was trying to grab me. I could feel the kunai slash across his skin and heard the ripping of flesh it was so gross and I wanted to puke, but I knew if I did, I would be taken. I heard one of the shinobi growl out "you little bitch" and I swiped one more time before screaming out for father and began to flip around them, using my small size and quick reflexes to try and avoid being grabbed by the pissed off ninjas.

I could feel the difference in speed with my lack of weights and it helped me tremendously in avoiding the angry Kumo-nin, my body was lighter and my reflexes were even better than before. If I wasn't scared shitless and crying while dodging for my life, I would have thought this was fun. As one hand grabbed me from behind and another came to grab my front I infused chakra into my fist and I made contact with the nin. I released the chakra that I had gathered in my fist and I could hear his arm crack from my hit.

A burning pain shot through my arm and I bit my lip making it bleed to hold in my screams. I refuse to give them the satisfaction of hearing me cry out in pain. My timing and technique was still not perfect when trying to use such a high level of Chakra enhanced strength and because of my error, the chakra backlashed and I knew my wrist was broken. I gripped my wrist, ready to move again but before I could go, a blunt force hit the back of my neck and everything went black.

I woke up the next day and when I opened my eyes, everything was so bright and white I thought I had died and finally sent to the afterlife. But then I heard noises and the faint sound of machines. Blinking a few times my eyes adjusted to the light and I realized I'm in the hospital hence the creepy amount of white I was seeing. A nurse with long dark pink hair and lanky form scuffled in checking my vitals. My eyes trailed her every move and when she finally noticed, she began to ask me questions. "Hinata-hime are you alright how do you feel. Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine. I would like to speak to my father." I mumbled out quietly.

"Yes, Hime I will send Hiashi-sama in now" she said with a quick bow. A moment later father walked in and sat by my bed with one of the coldest looks I've ever seen on his face. Loosing confidence I mumbled a "Good morning". Instead of responding father grabbed me and hugged me tight. My almost kidnapping was hard on him too then. With his love I finally released my emotions one more time and cried into him. Father began to pat down my hair as he held on to me and started talking to me. "Hime you were almost kidnapped do you remember?"

"Yes."

"You held off 3 men long enough for me to get there right before they could take you from your room. One of the men was bleeding and one had his arm shattered from his elbow down. Did you do that"

"Yes." I sniffled. Daddy held me tighter at my answer in an embrace I could only classify as a proud one.

"You were kidnapped as a rouse for an attempt at my life and for the Rikage to finally get his hands on the Byakugan. Fortunately they failed but not without casualty." My heart dropped at this. I failed to save Uncle Hizashi, am I so worthless that I already failed at making a difference. I wanted Neji to grow up with the love of a father, I wanted to keep uncle Hizashi alive but I failed. I was so caught up in my own depressing thoughts, I didn't notice dad trying to get my attention until he shook me out of my stupor.

"Hizashi was there to fend off the other attack but was blinded and lost a hand in the process." I cringed at the horrible things that happened to him but let out a sigh of relief knowing that he is still alive. At least he can be there for Neji now, even if I ruined his career. Because they were not killed and instead detained in the process, Hizashi was not sent as an eye for an eye type deal

"I'm glad you are safe otousan. How is Uncle and Neji-nii taking it?"

"They will get over it." The oh so softhearted response of my loving dad, I swear saying something emotional would kill him. He removed me from his lap and got up to leave to allow mommy and the nurse back in. Right before he left he turned around and said, "You did not disappoint me."

I fist pumped in the air when he left only to cry out in pain from my wrist. The nurse scurried over and scolded me for being reckless right after an injury. I was told I can't do any training with my right hand for at least 2 weeks. That sucks because now I'll only be able to run which is never fun. I would say dad would take it easy on me since I got hurt, but knowing him, he will just intensify the running and find other workouts that don't involve hands.

After I was released, mommy took took me to check on Neji and Uncle in his hospital room before we went home. Neji was definitely not as mad as he was in canon but I could tell he still blamed me when he told me I could no longer call him nii and that it's my fault his father I hurt. After watching him for a bit I could see the anger and confusion directed at me as a substitute for his growing anger for the head vs branch families and I knew that it was very strong but at least this time he doesn't completely want to murder me. He's just a boy who realized the difference in status and is mad at how the branch family has to take the pain for the head family like his father. I guess can't blame him. Hopefully I will earn his forgiveness someday.

* * *

Being older was nothing special. I spent 4 days a week training my dad's regimen he keeps making for me and 1 day a week secretly working on my personal training.

My training from dad gets harsher and harsher. He trains me mercilessly in the gentle fist as well as the addition to kunai and shuriken. I'm not necessiraily good at weaponry, but I'm not terrible. I can hit the targets but can never hit the center. Since hyuuga dont specialize in weaporny I would probably need somebody else to make me a master. Father doesn't worry about that as much as my Taijutsu so I have to learn it on my own too if i want to get better faster. The rigorous training has been paying off and I am now a master at basic gentle fist. Dad has decided to start training me to learn some head family moves now like air palms and 8 Trigrams 64 Palms. He said I have to wait to turn 4 for him to truly teach me the techniques so he has just been giving me things to prepare myself for it like chakra control exercises, growing my reserves, an extended variety of katas, as well as upping my speed training.

I've been training myself alone in my own fighting style. I train hard at timing my release of chakra in my attacks so I don't have a repeat of breaking my wrist. I still haven't perfected my timing, but it's so much better and now I only end with bruises and bloody knuckles. I also have been researching ninjustu and have decided I am going to wait until I go to the academy for real ninjutsu because I don't want to kill myself attempting one. And I need a teacher to get me chakra paper. I don't want my dad to know quite yet about my own studies. All he knows is I train alone but he doesn't need to know on what. He might not like a Hyuuga not using Hyuuga styles all the time.

About 10 months after my birthday, I began to notice how I've never been let out of the clan compound. I never noticed it before because I was so worried about my training, but when I finally did, its all I can see. I know my parents aren't the most sociable and are very wary of other peoples actions but come on. I wanna leave. The only way I can remotely help people is if I leave so I have been making plans to leave the compound one way or another.

The first few times I brought it up to my parents to let me outside, they brushed it off saying I'm not old enough. Damn it, I'm old enough to train, I'm old enough to go outside. At 4, I finally managed to convince my mom to take me outside the compound and into the town with her by promising that I will let her enroll me into some girly classes to make me more feminine.

We finally left the compound, and I was so excited I was shaking. Mom took it as nerves and picked me up. Cuddling into her, I let her hold me for a little while I enjoy her warmth. As soon as we got into town, I had her put me down and she did, but held onto my hand tightly to not lose me. Konoha is truly beautiful. The sun was shining bright and all of the buildings and stands along the streets gave it a really peaceful and homey feel. Walking along the streets I could hear the women on the street cooing at how adorable I am. Mother walked me along smiling down at me as I looked at everything in awe, my eyes shining brightly. I looked up and I saw the coolest thing ever. The Hokage Monument. It's HUGE!

"Okaasan its all of the Hokage. They are amazing! I want to be strong like them someday!" I all but shouted smiling widely at her.

"At this rate I'm sure you will" my mom said chuckling and smiling fondly at me.

We took a few more steps when the most beautiful smell entered my nose. I looked around for it and saw that its coming from a little dango cafe. Dango yes, I've always wanted to try dango especially since so many people in the show were obsessed with it. Tugging on my mom's sleeve, I gave her the puppy dog eyes and begged her to take me to get dango.

We walked into the little cafe and mom went to order us some dango as I found us a table. This place is cute. I heard people come in so I looked back and choked on air at who I saw. Walking into the dango shop were Shisui Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, and Sasuke Uchiha. These three people are some of the people at the top of my list on who I want to help. Shisui and Itachi were both given terrible cards at life and I'm dertermined to do something about it. And Sasuke, I hated him in the show. He was such an arrogant emo prick. As much as I hated him, I understand why he was so sad. I'm determined that even if I can't save the fate of the clan, I will save Sasuke and make sure he is not alone. I will befriend him or at least make him not go crazy like he did before. I will help prevent some of the darkness from his heart.

Being the awkward person I am, I waited for them to order and sit down before I got up. I told mom that I was going to the bathroom and she let me go. I walked over to their table and they all looked at me. Sasuke with a frown probably thinking I'm a fangirl or something at the ripe old age of 4. Itachi and Shisui shared knowing looks and looked between me and Sasuke. Turning away from Sasuke, I looked at Shisui who gave me a slight surprised look at this turn out. I bowed and began to speak.

"Hi, my name is Hinata Hyuuga. You're Shisui Uchiha right? I know because I'm a huge fan of how how can use the body flicker technique so good. I can never figure it out." Shisui gave a laugh and before he could speak I turned to Itachi. "And you, you're Itachi Uchiha, child prodigy and heir to the clan. I know how that feels because I'm a prodigy too (not really but nobody would believe me if I explained why I was ahead of the game already) and I'm also heir to the Hyuuga clan. It kinda sucks but atleast I get to do lots of cool training! I would like for Shisui-san to train me in body flicker and for Itachi-sama to train me in shuriken jutsu. If I can to prove myself to you, I would like for you to take me on as an apprentice." When I finished all three of them looked at me wide eyed before Shisui smiled and began to laugh loudly.

"I like you Hinata-hime you got guts to ask us. As for the prodigy part, we'll see about that wont we. I accept to your proposition." I smiled at Shisui and turned to itachi expectantly. He was emotionless and said a "Hn" which Shisui told me means yes. I was basically jumping for joy and turned to leave when Sasuke stopped me, pouting with his arms crossed.

"What the heck Aniki, you always tell me later but you're going to train this weak fangirl." Sasuke whined childishly, his big dark eyes watery as he glared at Itachi.

"Who is a fangirl, duckbutt?" I replied pouting. Damn he's already an ass.

"You. You're just a fangirl trying to impress me and Aniki like the others." He responded dryly, looking to Itachi for confirmation.

"Hey Duckbutt it sounds more like your jealous of me than anything else. Scared that your precious Aniki will favor me because of my skills being better than yours?" I taunted with a smirk. Itachi watched with amusement, and Shisui had a shit-eating grin on his face.

"W-What no I'm not jealous. I can beat you, you're just a weak girl." Sasuke whined. Putting on a huge grin, I asked:

"Care to put that to the test? I was going to wait until after Dango to fight you three but I guess now works. But first I have to tell my Okaasan." We all stood up and went over to my mom. With my best puppy eyes, and some help from Itachi, we convinced her to let us go and come pick me up here in 6 hours.

They took me to the Uchiha clan training grounds and had Sasuke and I do the seal of confrontation. I jumped back immediately, avoiding Sasuke's wild punch. Wanting to end it and fight the others, I crouched down and launched myself looking like I was going for a punch before I Flipped in mid air, put my hands on Sasuke's shoulders and threw him to the ground, Immediately pushing into a back handspring to land on top of him, and I locked his body with a few pressure points. I sat on Sasuke grinning down at him smugly at his scowl beofre I tapped a few points and allowed him to move again. I looked over to Itachi and Shisui who were both looking at me in surprise. Sasuke stalked off and sat at the sidelines as Itachi stood up to come fight me.

"Are you ready Itachi-sama. I will not hold back and I expect you to not hold back, even if it means using Sharingan" I said firmly, the intent not being what I wanted with my chubby cheeks.

"Hai Hinata-hime I will not hold back" At that We formed the seal of confrontation and jumped back putting space between us. Itachi activated his 2 tomotoe Sharingan and watched me. I I activated my Byakugan and rushed at Itachi. Moving faster than he expected he barely moved out of the way of my first attack. Not giving him time to create an offense, I kept attacking relentlessly only hitting him once in the shoulder, but not in any vital points, just a very painful Tenketsu point. He grunted and landed a hit to my stomach that sent me skidding back, clutching my stomach and coughing.

I looked up at him grinning. This is fun. I can tell why hes such a prodigy becuase after a few more minutes of back and forth he began to see the patterns in my gentle fist finding counters too quick for me to beat him. If I continue like this I'd lose so I its time to unleash Olympic-style. If I land a successful chakra fueled hit, at this age he should go down. But thats a big if. I blocked a kick to my head and jumped back while switching my stance with my landing. Itachi looked suspicious at my stance and I could tell he was assessing on what style I was using, as well as looking to see all of the chakra gathering to my hands and feet. I began to attack him, this time landing more hits while simultaneously dodging with the use of my superior flexibility and style. He would think I would hit one place befpre I would twist to hit somewhere different. I'd go for a punch but land a kick, then switch back to actually using a punch.

Each move was different and I could tell he was slightly surprised by the change in movements. Itachi jumped back and began performing hand signs. I knew what was coming so I stood and waited, coating my body in a thin layer of chakra hoping that my plan will work. I jumped through the fireball and Itachi's eyes widened as he jumped up, but beause he was not ready, I landed a punch to his gut, releasing chakra on impact, and sent him hurtling to the ground creating a mini crater. I landed beside him panting heavily and looked down to see my clothes burned and small burns littering across my body, it hurt. Itachi slowly got up from the ground, nodding, it was over, I had nothing left to give and we both knew it. Shisui was looking between Itachi and I, mouth wide "I win...kind of...not really but I didn't lose!" The I collapsed from the pain of the burns and being so tired from the fight.

Shisui flickered over to me catching me and walked me over to Itachi who was slowly getting out of his crater, blood dripping down his chin, then shot his head to his left where Sasuke was. I looked over to what made Itachi and Shisui so tense and my eyes widened as I saw Fugaku Uchiha standing next to Sasuke with a glare that rivaled my fathers. I tensed too before having Shisui put me down. I slowly made my way to Fugaku and bowed before him. "Uchiha-sama. I apologize for destroying your training ground during my spar with Itachi-sama. I am Hinata Hyuuga heiress to my clan. I accept any punishments you would like to bestow upon me but do not put this on the Hyuuga name, this was srictly my decision to earn Training from Itachi-sama and Shisui-san in Shuriken and body flicker." I straightened myself and looked Fugaku straingt in the eye trying not to flinch from his stern gaze, before he replied with "Hn. Follow me." Doing what he said, I was surprised when he led me to his home instead of to my death. That might be coming though.

* * *

(Shisui POV)

Hinata Hyuuga. A name I'll never forget. When the small girl came sauntering over to our table with a large smile, I immediately thought she was a fangirl of Sasuke like every girl is with the Uchiha. How wrong I was. When she turned away from Sasuke and began to talk to me, I knew this girl was something else. When she asked Itavhi and I for training, challenging us, and insulting Sasuke, she had my full attention. I admit being of a rival clan and claiming to be a prodigy made me wary, but only slightly.

Itachi is a prodigy, a pure one in a million. Sasuke, in his own right was strong for his age. I didn't think she had a chance, but I agreed because she's amusing. I know she'd be fun to be around because she was able to irritate Sasuke in a way I could only dream of acheiving. When she fought against Sasuke I was surprised. She beat him so fast, I know he's either going to hate her forever, or love her forever; time will tell, but for now his pride is crushed. I guess she is a prodigy.

I got a little more excited for her fight with 'tachi. I still wasn't expecting much. 'tachi is strong, if i wasn't so fast he'd have beat me in every spar by now, so of course prodigy or not I didn't expect her to last long against 'tachi. When their fight began she was like a rocket. Her speed was seriously quick on its own and her attacks were quick and controlled, even managing to land a hit on 'tachi.

I turned on my Sharingan and watched them interested in every move she made. She's damn good, and she's only 4 without Sharingan, 'tachi would have lost to the little lioness by now. But then 'tachi caught on. I knew that look, he figured out the pattern and began a counter until she surprised him.

She completly changed her fighting style. I've never seen anyone move like her before her moves were unpredictable and powerful. I couldn't detect a pattern and never knew what she was going to strike. She would strike and dodge at the same time. It's graceful and flexible like a dancer with no bones but deadly and powerful like the jaws of a lion. I knew 'tachi would lose if he kept this up so when he pulled out the Fireball Jutsu, I wasn't surprised.

He was perfect, when the girl would go to dodge, he would be there to finish the fight. Itachi was genius, he underestimated his opponent but he still was the better fighter. I was surprised though when little Hinata jumped through the fireball, ignoring the burns to her body, and punched 'tachi.

I almost passed out when 'tachi hit the ground leaving a crater. If she can hit that strong and use a technique so deadly, along with her bloodline limit, she might become the most powerful Kunoichi ever.

I was impressed, no I am impressed with her skill. She truly is a perfect Prodigy, the likes equal to that of Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha. When I caught her I was about to bring her over to tease 'tachi when Fugaku showed up. Fuck, I thought we were all screwed. He was going to crush her and start a war between clans for Hinata beating his son.

Watching Hinata, she has no tact of a clan princess, she's not polite or has the aura of a leader like the other heirs, but when she spoke I couldn't help but be surprised again. She spoke like a perfect heir, powerful, arrogant, humble, and polite. My jaw hit the floor then after when Fugaku brought her to his home. He never brings people to his home. He doesn't want ME in his home.

That brings us to now. Fugaku, Me, Itachi, Sasuke, and Hinata all sitting around a table. No words are being spoken, it is just us staring at one another. To be more precise, my little source of amusement is staring Fugaku down not breaking his gaze even with his Sharingan turned on her. I had to hold back a smile she's got guts. I finally lost it when I looked over to Itachi and Sasuke. Itachi looked the same as always to anyone except his best friend, me. He was just dumbfounded at Hinata.

No doubt he expected to win with no effort. It was even better because of the bruise on his face and dried blood down from his lips. She really kicked her ass. My grin at 'tachi made him glare at me before turning back to stare at Hinata. I bursted out laughing at my sweet little Sasuke though. He was gaping at Hinata. Eye's wide, mouth open the whole 9 yards. His Aniki, the person he looks up to the most, his impossible to defeat big brother lost to a girl, and a girl his age no less.

Fugaku though, between their stare down, I can't tell what he's thinking. Its unnerving. If I were Hinata I'd be shaking, but she doesn't even look worried, in fact, she's smiling at him. A challenging smile, but a smile none-the-less. I'm glad I met this girl. She's going to flip this world upside down and I cant wait to watch.

(Hinata POV)

I was staring down Fugaku Uchiha. THE Fugaku Uchiha. I feel like such a badass but his Sharingan stare, I had to do my best not to flinch so I do what I do best, I smiled. Well it was kind of a smirk but whatever. He hasn't said a word to me and it's kind of freaking me out. After a good 10 minutes, filled with tension and Shisui's snickers, Fugaku finally opened his mouth.

"How?"

"How what?" I replied confused. What does he mean how.

"Hn."

"Thats not a word Uchiha-sama." (que Shisui snickers and sasuke's gasp)

"How did you beat Itachi?"

"I switced between my clan style and a style I created on my own and defeated him with a final chakra infused punch."

"I see. You created your own style at 4?" He asked skeptically, impressed, and annoyed.

"Yes, Uchiha-san. On my 3 days of training without my father, I designed my own style I have been perfecting since I started training."

"You are a true prodigy. That is why you won then."

"No Uchicha-sama. I won because I was fighting for something important."

Fugaku looked at me in disbelief and annoyance, responding with a classic arrogant "What were you fighting for then"

"I want Itachi-san and Shisui-san to train me. My shuriken skills lack and I know he is a prodigy. Shisui is a master at body flicker and I would like to learn. I fought to get better, to learn from people better than I so in turn I can protect them. I fight to protect everyone, even you Uchiha-sama. That is why I won. Itachi-san fought because I asked, I fought because I needed to. I know our clans are rivals but I don't believe in that. I believe clans should be more united and welcoming with one another. I fight to earn the respect of people and to become strong enough to unite everyone and protect those I care for."

At my declaration everyone looked at me in varying decree of shock and confusion. I saw respect flash through Itachi's eyes. Shisui smiled brightly at me. Sasuke looked confused. And Fugaku looked stumped at me, he was processing my words. After a few minutes I stood up and bowed to everyone at the table.

"Thank you for the spars Itachi-san and Sasuke-san. If you still need to spar me Shisui-san I will be ready. Thank you Uchiha-sama for bringing me to your lovely abode. Goodbye." I began to walk away and Shisui yelled at me a happy saa ya later at training. I smiled largely. I made it to the front door when Fugaku appeared in front of me.

"I approve."

"Of what Uchiha-sama"

"My sons and you. My son will train you. You will eat dinner with us and meet my wife tonight. I will notify your parents." He said leaving me no room for protest.

"Uh ok" I said smartly. God, for a prodigy I'm a dumbass. At that I went back to the table giggling at Sasuke's protests of a girl eating with him.

I was sitting at the table conversing with Shisui animatedly, itachi adding in a few Hn's in here and there. Wow Shisui is even better than in the Manga. He's funny and strong and he thinks I'm awesome. He's really good at making Itachi flustered the same way I do to Sasuke. We are the ultimate tag team. We were currently having an argument about the Hokage. Sasuke and Itachi think the 4th is the best. I think the first is the best and Shisui thinks the 3d is the best.

"Hinata-hime,'tachi-chan, Sasu-chan, Lord Third is amazing. He's the God of shinobi. He's amazing and has so many cool techniques, even more than the 1st or 4th Hokage.

"Hn. Lord 4th was the yellow flash, ended a war, defeated the 9 tails, and trained one of the greatest ninja Kakashi Hatake." My cheeks flushed happily at the thought of Karachi, he was so cool.

"Yeah Aniki is right. Lord 4th is the best. You're so dumb freaky fists" Yeah Sasuke has taken to calling me freaky fists because my strength that is so "Unnatural for a girl" making me a freak.

"Geez duckbutt you only agree with what Itachi-san says you're such a fanboy." Sasuke spluttered with indignation blushing angerly. "Lord First, Hashirama-sama was the reason Konoha exists. He United the Uchiha clan and Senju clan, build the Shinobi nations, used Wood style that could tame the 9-tails and married a sealmaster. Without him none of the other Kage would exist anywhere so of course he is the best Hokage."

My reasoning made all of them stop and I could see that they agreed but their damn Uchiha pride made them unable to say I'm right. Ready to turn the conversation around to something more fitting to Sasuke so we can become friends I asked about his mom.

"Hey Duckbutt whats your mother like?"

"Okaasan is awesome. She's nice and pretty and puts the best tomatoes in my food but really scary when..."

"I'm scary when what _Sasu-chan_" a new feminine voice cut in sickly sweet. We all turned around and I saw Mikoto carrying grocery bags. She is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. She has long black hair and beautiful black eyes. A perfectly pail and slim yet beautiful face. Pink lips and a round nose. She's the epitome of a perfect Uchiha. Her sons get their looks from her for sure.

"Nothing Okaasan!" Sasuke shouted as he ran and gave her a hug.

"Hey Auntie Mikoto" Shisui greeted giving her a hug too. I looked toward Itachi. He got up with the grace only he possessed and bowed his head with a quiet "Hello Okaasan" then took her bags and headed to the kitchen.

Mikoto turned to me and her eyes widened before she gave out a squeal and glomped me, pinching my cheeks in a speed reserved for ninja.

"You are absolutely adorable. I never though I'd see the day when one of my boys brought a girl home. Who invited you here. I'm surprised Fugaku-kun decided to let you stay. You must really be special little Hyuuga." I giggled at her antics she's awesome!

"Hello Mikoto-sama. I'm Hinata Hyuuuga. I was invited by neither of your sons. I was sparring with Itachi-san and your husband invited me inside. After an intense staredown and questioning, he demanded me to stay for dinner." I said smiling brightly.

"You are even cuter! Don't let big bad Fugaku-kun scare you. He must really like you to invite you to stay. I will talk more with you in the kitchen while we make dinner!" She said while dragging me into the kitchen. Geez all Uchiha don't know how to ask you to do something. SO forceful.

"Mikoto-sama I don't know how to cook." I said blushing in embarassment.

"That's alright I will help you." We spent the next hour preparing Onigiri. I suck at cooking. It took me 5 burned Onigiri before I successfully created made one. Mikoto teased me the whole time saying I am too boyish for such a pretty girl. After completing dinner we set the table and she called the boys to dinner.

Fugaku kneeled at the head of the table, Mikoto on his left, Itachi on his right. I was seated between Itachi and Sasuke and Shisui sat across from me. We were eating dinner in silence, Shisui and I making faces at one another before Fugaku spoke up.

"I will be training you on the days Hiashi is not. I would also like to speak to your parents about the marriage agreement." I hummed in acceptance absentmindedly before I choked on my water. I could tell I wasn't the only one blindsided because the others at the table were in just as much shock as me.

"M-M-Marriage. W-What are you talking about." Yeah, not happening. If sasuke is anything like canon I'm going to shank him before I'd ever have his children...and just no. I have much more important things to worry about than getting married, plus Itachi is like older than me, I'm 4. What the hell.

"You proved yourself to be the only female worthy of marrying one of my sons. You would like to unite clans, this is the best way." NOPE, that's a big no.

"Oh my gosh Hinata-chan you adorable girl are going to be my daughter-in-law!" Mikoto cheered, what the fuck.

"No wait! Thats not what I meant. I don't wanna be married I'm 4. I want to marry the one I love. I'm not ready to be married. I don't even like Itachi-san or duckbutt like that."

"Hn. You are not to be married until you are older. That is plenty of time to love them. I will allow them to decide with you on who to Marry." Wow, I _love _ being able to make my own decisions so much. Why are all clan dads I'm stuck around such assholes about their power trips.

"Yes Tou-sama" Itachi responded dryly. He's not even going to try to disagree. Damn Itachi.

"Tou-sama, I don't want to marry freaky fists. She calls me duckbutt."

"Sasu-chan don't say that One day you will want to marry Hinata-chan and if you don't act soon Itachi-kun will steal her away." At that Sasuke pouted and shut up.

"But I'm 4. I don't like this, agh! nobody is listening." Shisui laughed at my and I mustered up the best glare I could but it failed and looked more like a pout. Damn my chubby faced cute-ness.

We finished up dinner and Fugaku sent Itachi to escort me home. I missed him telling Itachi to woo me because I'd be a good asset to the clan. The walk was awkward to say the least. I couldn't even look at him. He's hot and all but I don't wanna be forced to marry him. We neared my compound and I decided to break the silence.

"I liked our spar. I would like to do it again. Thank you for accepting me as a student Itachi-senpai. Thank you for walking me home. I will see you at training."

"Hn. You're welcome" He said and kissed my hand before he left. I walked inside and laid on my bed dazed, I feel like its weird but it's Itachi. Who the hell knows with Uchiha. I then fell into a dreamless sleep

**A/N: THIS IS NOT A SPECIFIC ITACHI X HINATA NOR A SASUKE X HINATATHERE WILL BE MULTIPLE SHIPS PEOPLE HAVE AND IS LEANING MORE TOWARDS THE MULTIPLE ENDINGS OR NO ENDING IN ROMANCE SO YEAH! I GET ASKED A LOT AND AM LETTING YOU KNOW NOW...Pus I hate Sasuke and couldn't do a fanfic based only around his life like that.**

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** I don't own Naruto..that is Kishimoto's baby, I just fucked with the plot and character power levels and stuff.**

**So I wanted to put this out there explaining what will happen for the next few chapters so people wont go and shout OP or Maru-sue so soon. In a lot of Fanfic..I definitely like these but just saying...people always make it if a character is reincarnated, they either become evil, are useless, reveal their identity too early and do nothing to actually change the plot, or are like super PTSD and weak and don't want a ninja life so when a character like what I'm working on actually wants to be strong and works to do it, they are OP because they are young but hear me out. If you were born in somewhere like Naruto and knew things on how to power up faster and what to change...wouldn't you do the same thing and get stronger sooner than other characters...then help those characters also get stronger faster than they did in the Manga/Anime? I mean it stands to reason that if you know how to become stronger from what characters trained like or you know how chakra works and ways to get stronger through training and you had the ability to practice and learn right when you can walk, you'd be way more impressive way sooner than a lot of the other kids your age in the Shinobi world (bar Kakashi and Itachi)...at least that's what I think would happen.**


	4. Learning Curve

I was woken up at 5 in the morning. I yawned and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes looking at my mother who looked so happy she would burst. Why, I have no clue. It's too early to think.

"Okaasan why did you wake me up so early?" I whined while trying to pull the blankets back over my head. I shut my eyes again hoping she'd leave, but instead I was greeted with her yanking my blanket off the futon. I sat up and stared at her blankly. Why is she so excited, she's only this excited when she gets to dress me up. There's no ceremonies so... oh shit. I promised her to go to Mikoto's 'lady training' class for a week. At least I don't have to go for the whole month, but it still sucks. They are going to ruin me, I will fail. I'm not girly, I can't do this.

"Okaasan, do I have to go to those dumb classes. I look like a girl, isn't that enough."

"Yes, you have to go. Just because you look like a girl doesn't mean you act like a girl. Many of the other girls have been to the class multiple times so they will be ahead of you, but because you are so smart, you can catch up. You will learn how to be a lady, this way you will find a good husband. They want a woman who is the perfect woman, not your boyish self. Maybe Mikoto-chan will finally fix your posture and teach you to talk like a lady."

"Damn."

"Hinata-chan we do not use language like that. Be a lady."

"Sorry Okaasan."

"Now come, we are going to get you dressed and packed for this week. You are going to look so beautiful this week. You will finally be dressed like a girl, not in those horrible training clothes your father puts you in." She dressed me in a short blue kimono with pink sakura flowers and golden trimming. My hair was down, reaching my lower back, with slight curls. To keep it out of my face, a braid was done on the front of both sides and they were pinned to the back. Mother works magic, I could never make myself look this girly. I looked pretty again, but I don't know how I will handle dressing like this everyday. Mother twirled me around and smiled.

"Hinata-hime, you look so beautiful. Itachi-kun and Sasuke-kun won't know what hit them when they see you." I glared at her.

"Okaasan, I don't like them like that." I whined. Will nobody let me forget they are trying to court me. For the last month, Itachi has been so weird, doing little things trying to flatter me. Its nice and all but weird. I don't want to fall in love until I have accomplished some of my goals. At least Sasuke hasn't changed much. He still calls me names and stuff, but is a little more possessive than normal. It's just because I'm the only girl who will train with him and not fangirl though. Fangirls are monsters. Sasuke and most of them are 5 and already freaky fangirls. I cant wait to see the torture he goes through in the Academy when we start.

Mother handed me my bag and we walked over to the Uchiha compound where a guard was waiting for me.

"Hyuuga-sama, Hinata-hime welcome. I will escort you to the compound where the other girls and Mikoto-sama are waiting." He said with a bow.

"Arigato Uchiha-san. Lead the way." I replied. He led us to an area of the compound I have never been to before. It was like a mini hotel with a giant ballroom and raised stage in the middle. I looked around and there were about 10 girls my age or a year older. They were all dressed in kimonos and were giggling, looking around in awe at the compound. Many of the older girls looked to be Uchiha civilian girls. I recognized Ino and Sakura based off their hair colors. There was also a girl who was around 6, with the rest of the girls behind her, glaring at Ino and Sakura. She must be the queen bee. When I said goodbye to mother, all of the girls finally realized I was there. I stood their unsure of what to do or say, but Mikoto saved my butt by finally arriving.

"Hello girls." They replied with a chorused "Hello Mikoto-sama."

"Welcome to the last week of class. Each day this week we will go over one of the skills you need as a woman, and on the final day, you will have a ceremony to show your parents the fine young ladies you are becoming. Although unorthodox, we have Hinata-hime joining us for this last week. Be kind to Hinata. Hinata sweetie will you introduce yourself to the others please."

"Yes, Mikoto-sama. My name is Hinata Hyuuga. I am 4 turning 5 in December and I'm heiress to my clan. I like training and dislike bullies. I hope we get along." I said smiling but slightly fidgeting with the hem of my kimono. This is my first time around so many girls, I have never really had girl friends so this is nerve wracking. Everyone smiled at me and I let out a sigh of relief.

"I will give you a few minutes to get acquainted while I retrieve the boys so we can finally practice dancing with a partner." Mikoto said as she walked out the door. Hell yeah! I can do dancing so this won't be too hard. Thank god, I'm glad we didn't start with something like flower arrangements.

As soon as Mikoto was out of sight, the queen bee walked up to me, all of the girls trailing behind her.

"Hi Hinata-chan. I'm Ami and I'm 5. Since you are new I will tell you how this works. If you want to be popular, especially when we join the academy together, stay away from the girl with the big forehead, she's a freak. You don't want to associate with losers like her. My daddy is a big merchant and so I know how it feels to be rich so lets be friends." I looked up at Ino and Sakura and saw them watching me waiting for my answer. I may think Sakura is annoying, but she doesn't deserve this.

"I said I don't like bullies. You are an asshole who is so insecure she has to bully others so leave me alone before I make you. I also do not like people who befriend people just because of their status." I walked past her and headed towards Ino and Sakura to introduce myself. Before I made it, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and stared Ami down. She was fuming.

"You know what, you belong with them. You are a freak too. You are not a lady and never will be. You act like because you are pretty that you can do anything but you can't. No boy will love you when you act more like a boy then a girl. I am not insecure you are." She screeched. I just stared at her with half lidded eyes.

"Are you done banshee?" Then I turned around and walked away smirking. I made it over to Ino and Sakura who both were looking at me, Ino in approval and Sakura in awe.

"Hinata-chan right? I'm Ino Yamanaka of the Yamanaka clan. I like you not very many people stand up to Ami. You're our new best friend."

"Hi Ino she deserved it. I'm glad to finally have girl friends" I turned to Sakura. "You're forehead isn't that big so ignore her. What's your name Pinkie?" I asked even though I already knew.

"S-sakura H-Haruno. T-thank you for sticking up for me H-Hinata-san." She bowed deeply, her cheeks flushing the same color as her hair in embarrassment.

"No problem Sakura. Don't call me Hinata-san, there is no need for honorifics since we're friends." I smiled happily and she gave me a hesitant one in return.

"O-ok Hinata-chan" Sakura replied. Damn I forgot how shy she was before the Academy. I asked Ino about what they have learned over the month so far and her and Sakura she were explaining it to me. The dancing seems fun and singing is ok, but everything else sounds miserable. They've seen Sasuke around the compound and have crushes, but don't seem to want to tell each other and aren't fangirls yet so that doesn't have to be a worry.. The other girls already fangirl over him though. Hopefully he isn't one of the men who has to dance with us today, I can't handle all of the screaming girls. Although, it would be funny to watch him squirm. We moved topics and Ino was telling us about her birthday party on September 23d. She invited me and told me I would get to meet more kids our age. I agreed quickly, I can finally meet other members of the rookie 9!

After a few more minutes of light conversation, Mikoto finally returned 11 boys in tow. They were all Uchiha boys ranging from 5 to 10. I recognized Itachi and Sasuke right away and groaned. This is going to be attack of the fangirls. When all of the girls looked at the boys they squealed about how all of them are hot and how they can't wait to dance with Sasuke-kun. Gross. Mikoto cleared her throat to gain our attention.

"Alright girls, each of you will be dancing with one of the boys that pick you. Watch as Itachi-kun and I demonstrate what you will be doing." They walked to the center of the room and began a waltz of some sort. It shouldn't be too hard. Hopefully I get paired with somebody fun to dance with. I feel bad for the girl Sasuke is with, she will have to deal with the wrath of fangirls. Mikoto and Itachi finished their dance and went back onto the stage with the rest of the boys.

"Ok boys, choose what girl you would like to dance with." That instant, all of the girls except Sakura Ino and I swarmed Sasuke, who looked utterly disgusted. A few of the boys looked my direction and began to walk over, but when they looked up at Mikoto for approval she shook her head so they Ino and Sakura to dance instead. Damn it, she's gonna make me dance with Sasuke. Mikoto finally paired off the girls to end the rampage and that left Sasuke and I. He made his way over to me looking annoyed and relieved at the same time. When the girls realized I was his partner, there were shouts of protest.

"Hey why does the freak get to dance with Sasuke-kun, she's not nearly girly enough for him." "That's not fair I want Sasuke-kun." And many more. Mikoto gave them a look and they silenced. I smirked and stood on my toes to whisper to Sasuke.

"Duckbutt your fangirls need a leash. Just be glad you got me and not one of them, they'd probably end the dance with a kiss" He glared at me.

"Hn. Freaky fists, you should be glad to dance with me."

"Whatever, after this want to get Itachi to train us in shuriken?" I asked with a smirk already knowing the answer.

"Yea, you need the extra training." He said with a smirk. I just sulked knowing he's right. He beats me every time we throw Kunai and Shuriken. His smirk turned into a grin when he realized he won the argument. We were so into the argument, neither of us realized we were supposed to start dancing until Mikoto came to interrupt. She had us stand in front of each other and get into position. She put one of Sasuke's hand on my lower back and the other held out for me to put my hand in. My other hand went on his shoulder. It was super awkward and we both stood a foot apart until she pushed us up agains each other. Because we are 4 and 5, and I have no romantic feelings towards Sasuke, it's not that big of a deal so I didn't care, but Sasuke was a blushing mess. It was hilarious.

Mikoto made all of us go through different moves a few times, checking up on posture and footwork. She had to make my posture better every few minutes. I could tell she was exasperated with my horrible posture when she told me I stand too much like a boy. Even though my posture was bad, she was extremely pleased with my dancing skill and ability to pick up the footwork easily. It was actually really fun especially since Sasuke and I got to bicker the whole time. After a few hours and a lunch break, we finally got down to actually using the moves and Mikoto had us dance over and over to different songs. Getting bored of the same moves, Sasuke and I began to make up our own, I incorporated moves from dances like the tango and it was awesome. Sasuke is a really good dancer and could keep up with my moves, adding a few of his own while we talked about who was the best dancer. Mikoto was so impressed with us, she had us demonstrate in front of everyone, and just to piss off Ami, a huge Sasuke fangirl, I kept my posture perfect and would whisper to Sasuke about ways to mess with Itachi, making him smirk and the girls glare daggers at me.

At the end of our dance, Mikoto had everyone go back to practicing while we got a break. I was about to sit down when Itachi asked me for a dance. I accepted and we began to dance, me being oblivious of Sasuke's glares towards Itachi and Mikoto's knowing looks between us three.

"Hey Itachi will you train duckbutt and I in shuriken tonight? I still suck compared to you guys and duckbutt wont let me live it down."

"Sorry Hinata-hime maybe next time." He said while poking my forehead. "Okaasan made me promise to not let you train while you were here. She said it's unbecoming of a young lady to be all sweaty during these classes. She also took your training clothes out of your bag so you cannot sneak off." He told me with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Damn it." I said, throwing my head back letting out an exasperated sigh. We finished our dance, Itachi bowed and kissed my hand thanking me for the dance. I curtsied and made my way back over to Sasuke. I slid down the wall beside him and told him we cant train until this class is over. We watched everyone dance, I added commentary about each pair and what they were saying, making him snicker at my extra high-pitched girl voice. Sasuke would taunt me by saying that I know what they are saying because I'm a closet fangirl resulting in arguments. I think he secretly likes our arguments as much as I do.

Honestly the month I have spent with the Uchiha has been awesome, minus the marriage ordeal. Sasuke is really fun to be around. Without the Massacre so far, he is actually talkative and way less emo. He is super arrogant still but in a good way and can banter with me about anything. He is mischevious and can help me plan good pranks for Shisui and Itachi. Just like in the manga though, he idolizes Itachi and wants to be like him especially to impress his dad. Sasuke is a prodigy in his own right because he learns super fast and works hard. Itachi is also really cool to be around. He is pretty much an ice cube but I can see the love he has for Sasuke every time they are together. Even being an ice cube, he's considerate to me and a patient Sensei when I get frustrated, which is always. Itachi is a pure genius and its kind of freaky how much so he is. I was considered a genius, and still am but Itachi is on another level. His and Shisui's friendship never ceases to entertain me, I've never seen someone be able to get a rise out of Itachi the way Shisui can.

Shisui is most like myself. We are loud, hyper, and love to find ways to annoy our targets. He's super fun and has the most contagious smile. He talks a lot and is super caring for everyone around him. He's also a super awesome Sempai. He has taught me how to body flicker. I'm not even close to as good as he is but I've definitely seen improvement. Mikoto is like a second mother to be. She was super different from what I expected too. She is loving and caring, and squeals whenever she thinks I look adorable, which is always. She's also super strict though and keeps all of the boys in line. Something I need to learn how to do. She always teases me for being the 'prettiest girl she has ever seen but the most boyish' and is always confused at how I am like that. Fugaku was the most surprising, in that he doesn't hate me. Especially since he always slyly puts in info about marriage. He is exactly what I though, cold and harsh. He takes no mercy in training and has the highest expectation for everyone, especially Itachi. One thing I've done though is he gives Sasuke more attention now, once I told him, Sasuke is the type to thrive when his father gives him even the slightest acknowledgement. When he did, Sasuke became way happier. They are like my second family, and I want to protect them.

Mikoto released the boys and allowed us to get dressed for dinner. I was confused on what she meant so I went to find Ino and Sakura and ask them.

"Hey Ino, Sakura, what does Mikoto-sama mean when she says go get dressed for dinner?" They both looked at me before bursting into fits of giggles.

"We're supposed to change into our formal dinner attire to practice proper dinner manners silly." At my confused face Sakura decided to speak up.

"Y-You did bring proper d-dinner attire right Hinata-chan?"

"Uh no. I didn't know that was a thing. I thought what I am waring is formal attire." They looked at me incredulously then began to giggle again. "Shit. I'll go ask Mikoto-sama for some help. Save me a spot at dinner please? Bye Ino, Sakura." They widened their eyes at my language but shrugged it off and agreed to save me a spot. I walked over to Mikoto and Itachi feeling like an idiot.

"Hey uh Mikoto-sama, I don't have dinner attire, I didn't know we needed it and have no clue what that even means. I though a kimono was just a kimono." I said blushing in embarrassment. Mikoto laughed at me. Gah why does everyone laugh when I don't know girl stuff.

"You really are such a boy Hinata-chan. Itachi-kun please escort Hinata to my quarters and have her wait for me there."

"Yes Okaasan." Itachi led me to Mikoto's room and left me there. A few minutes later, Mikoto walked in with 6 kimonos in hand.

"Hinata-chan, each night before dinner, you will meet me here and I will help you with your dinner attire. These are my old kimonos that should fit you." She said with a smile.

"Thank you Mikoto-sama." I bowed in thanks. Mikoto helped me get out of my other Kimono and placed me in a floor length black kimono with white and red patterns, and a red obi around my waist. It was heavy and had many layers. I could see and feel the difference between a regular and formal kimono now. She decided to do my hair and took the braids out, then curled it all letting it all hang down. Mikoto walked out for a second so I looked in the mirror and yet again, I looked like a princess. Damn, I got lucky that I'm so pretty, with my Hyuuga genes. I spun around and realized that I have the Uchiha fan on my back. Damn that Mikoto, I know she is enjoying having me wear it. Mikoto returned with a tube and put a lipgloss thing on my lips, as well as some eyeliner and mascara. What person puts a 4-year-old in makeup. In this world though, wearing makeup as a young girl is normal. Even now, I am not wearing as much as some other girls.

Mikoto led me to the dining room, and there were all of the girls, as well as the boys from earlier. Fugaku and Shisui were even sitting at the table. When Fugaku looked at me and saw what I was wearing, he smirked like the smug asshole he is. Shisui ended his conversation with Itachi and came runnning up to me.

"Hinata-hime you look so cute. Oh my gosh you're wearing the Uchiha crest. I thought you weren't getting married. Who did you pick, I can't let you get married, you're too little. Stay small and cute forever!" I love him but sometimes he's an idiot. I deadpanned at him.

"Shisui-senpai put me down. I didn't know what formal dinner wear was so Mikoto dressed me. I am still not marrying any of you, espically you, you are an old fart." he grasped over his heart.

"Hinata-hime my dear student, you wound me but I understand, Mikoto is cunning and knew you wouldn't bring formal attire. She's probably been picking out Kimonos since you agreed to come this week."

"Probably. Let me go sit, the sooner this is over, the sooner I can take this off and go to bed."

"Yes hime. Enjoy your dinner, don't eat like too much of a boy" he said laughing when I smiled at that.

"No promises." And I sauntered over to my seat next to Ino. During my walk, many of the girls looked at me then when a 7-year-old Uchiha noticed my back she screeched.

"Mikoto-sama, why does the Hyuuga girl have the Uchiha crest on her back. She's not an Uchiha." Mikoto, calm and composed responded before any of the other girls glaring at me could.

"Ladies do not raise their voice at the table and if they are not the Matriarch, they speak when spoken to. Do not forget your manners. And as for Hinata-chan, she is a special case. She is close to our family and will hopefully one day be married into our family so she has the right given by Fugaku-kun and I to wear the crest whenever she pleases. Same as our son's were given the Right by the Hyuuga head's to be able to wear the Hyuuga crest when at their compound." Damn, I didn't know this. How could my parents not tell me. They are taking this whole marriage thing too seriously. When Mikoto sat back down, everyone's eyes turned towards me in shock, anger, and awe. I scurried to my spot, wanting the girls to stop watching me, and sat next to Ino, my head in my hands. Ino nudged me and I looked up at her hoping she wasn't angry with me. She had no signs of resentment, just curiosity and she looked impressed with me.

"Hinata that is so cool. You will be the first girl to lead 2 major clans. I'm kind of jealous that you get to marry a hottie, but thats awesome! I have the coolest friend. Which boy are you engaged to?" At this Sakura leaned in more too.

"Neither. Fugaku said I can decide when I'm older which son to marry, If I want to marry them. Its complicated. I don't want to get married to someone I don't love, and I don't want to think about it yet, I'm 4. I want to be a strong Shinobi first."

"I get it. I want to be a good Kunoichi too, but I really want to get married." Ino replied. Sakura then decided to speak up.

"I w-would like to become a K-Kunoichi too. I'm a civilian but I really think t-that I can do it." Ino and I looked to one anther than in sync responded.

"We know you can Sakura." We chatted throughout dinner, Ino and Sakura helped me a lot with proper manners, even though I still don't get it that much. Ino told me more about her family and her love of flowers. She really is a genius when it comes to flowers. She also hasn't started her training yet, and will start when she turns 6 and enters the academy with the rest of the kids our age. I learned a little bit about the boys she has to spend time with: Shikamaru and Choji and how they are boring and lame. I learned Sakura is the oldest of us and she really likes to read and has a photographic memory. She told me about what it's like being a civilian and how her mom owns a bakery. She gets to see lots of cool travelers and merchants. When Ino told me the age requirements and limits for the Academy, I realized I will be the youngest in our class. I also learned about how because it is not a war-time right now, Students can't enter and graduate early like Itachi did. Some of this stuff made me realize I still don't know that much and I need to go to a public library instead of the clan library so I can learn more. It's really fascinating how the system works, it's totally ok to send a person not tall enough to reach the edge of a counter to war but if nobody is obviously fighting it's frowned upon.

The next few days were similar to how it went on the first day. Day 2 we worked on tea ceremonies. It was hell, I was terrible and no matter what, failed at something. I even broke a few tea cups. Even with my grace when I'm fighting or dancing, I was a huge klutz and it showed during this. All of the girls thought it was so funny and wouldn't let me hear the end of it. Sakura came through during this and helped me make my tea after the first few tries were terrible. I don't understand the point of a tea ceremony, especially since I don't like tea but whatever. Day 3 we worked on language and the proper way a lady should talk. I of course failed at this too, well only in using it in the long run.

I know how to talk properly and stuff, Mikoto knows that, so she tried to get me to use it all of the time. I didn't and never will. Every time I would cuss, I got hit so I had quite a few bruises at the end of the day. All of the girls were surprised at my ability to talk so sophisticated, especially because of my age and use of bad words, but stopped caring when ever I would go back to my normal speak. Day 4 was cooking. This day was pretty fun. I already knew how to do Onigiri from last time so that was easy. When we began to cook other foods, it was really bad. I blew up a pot which was so funny. I was banned from cooking with heat and was taught how to make foods like salad instead. Totally fine with me I've never been a good cook.

Science and cooking are similar but I could never figure out cooking the same way. Honestly if I have kids here, I need a husband who can cook for us. I was told this by Mikoto too, especially when she not-so-subtly said both Sasuke and Itachi can cook. Day 5 was singing and it was also a good day. I could sing in my past life and that seemed to carry over. My voice is softer now but the results are still good. Music here was much different than in my past, I missed the fun of finding a song that spoke to your soul, the creative beats and wide variety of melodies that existed. Music was nice here but it wasn't the same.

Day 6 was flower arrangement and identification. Flower arranging is fun and I got to make some really cool colorful bouquets. I didn't hate it like I thought. I also didn't know there were so many meanings for flowers. Mind blown. I also learned how to color flowers so I can finally make my favorite, black and turquoise roses. I definitely wasn't a pro in flower arrangement like Ino and I couldn't make dainty and pretty bouquets like Sakura, but I made really 'unique' ones. The black roses surprisingly were a big hit and Ino asked to teach her to make them. We also made flower crowns which was fun because, even though I'm not a fan of pink, matching flowers to complement Sakura's pink hair and green eyes was fun. I can see the enjoyment in flower arrangements now.

* * *

Today is the day we get to show all we have learned in a ceremony that all of the clans attend. It's pretty scary to know that many people will be there to judge my lady-ness but oh well. I'm going to be ninja who will help ease peoples pain, not a housewife. We spent the rest of the morning practicing our songs and other stuff for tonight.

Around 1 it was time to start getting ready. We all went to Sakura's room since it was the cleanest and began to get ready. Mikoto had women come and help each of us. Mikoto of course came to help me, Sakura, and Ino get ready. Since their hair was short, they didn't do much except make sure it was super straight and had glitter clips holding it back. Mikoto helped me with my long hair, curling it and putting it into a half-up do with a glittery pin and had some pieces hang down around my face to frame it.

Ino was really good at makeup and put it on for all of us. I made sure she didn't put any face powder and stuff on cuz I never liked it. They were both really pretty but swore they needed more makeup then me no matter what I said. Then we each got dressed in our kimonos. Ino was wearing a floor length purple kimono with blue and black flowers. The obi around her waist was a pretty blue with yellow lining and her clan symbol on the back. It was overall really beautiful and looked good in contrast with her bleach blond hair.

Sakura was wearing a floor length bright red kimono with pink and green sakura flowers that matched her hair and eyes. The obi around her waist was pink with green lining. It really made her eyes stand out. I was put in a lavender (the color of my eyes) short kimono, because I always trip in the long ones, with dark blue and hot pink roses that all seemed to fall from the top and gather at the bottom of the kimono. On the back my clan symbol stood proud. There was a slit up the side of the kimono so I could move easier.

My obi was dark blue and had a pink trim. My kimono matched well with my hair and eyes, without making me look boring. I had on Lavender and blue thigh high stockings on to cover up since I was wearing a short kimono with a slit. We all looked like princesses and even though I'm no girly girl, I had fun getting ready with them. We were dancing around the room as we sang random songs I thought of while we were waiting for Mikoto to tell us when to start. I'll never understand how Ino and Sakura could be so graceful and move so well while wearing long, constricting kimonos.

Mikoto finally came and got us. All of us girls were in a line waiting to preform our songs. Then we finally got to leave the stage and mingle. I found my parents and my mom gave me a big hug saying how good I was and how pretty I look. I gave dad a hug and he gave me a nod of approval. I was then introduced to a ton of clan people and had to greet them properly which was easy but boring. They all said how I was a prodigy and cute and so proper, bleh. Proper my ass, I just don't want Mikoto to beat me for being improper, and I don't want dad to say I'm a disgrace if I am too improper. I didn't get to meet anyone of importance sadly, they all stayed away. After that, we ate dinner and had tea for desert. Mom laughed lovingly (and extremely discreet, Hyuga women were too refined to truly let loose of course) at my failures, but said she expected worse. I call that a win, especially since I didn't break anything. Finally, we got back together with our dance partners and danced. This was ok because all of the adults danced too. Sasuke came up to me in his formal attire and I laughed so hard at his scowl.

"Duckbutt you look so uncomfortable in that. You could have at least tried to make your hair less duckbutt-y to be so formal. You are already dressing like a prince, go act like one and sweep one of your fangirl's off of her feet and make her a princess." I said with a shit-eating grin on my face.

"Hn. Says the fangirl who dressed like a princess just to dance with me." He replied with a smug smirk.

"Awe duckbutt you think I look like a princess, I'm flattered." I placed my hand over my heart and laughed. He scoffed and looked away.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. You are just trying to make up for your lack of being a real girl by dressing like one."

"Damn you. I hate when you're right." I pouted and Sasuke smirked and spun me. I retaliated by forcing chakra in one of his tenketsu points on his hand to make it numb. He hissed in pain and I smiled. The dance ended and he walked off to go whine to Itachi about me messing with his hand. A new song started and Itachi bowed and asked me for a dance. Not in the mood for a lecture if I declined, I accepted.

"Sasuke is mad at you." Itachi said in his bored tone.

"I know. He deserved it."

"Hn?" Itachi asked eyes twinkling in the amusement he gets whenever Sasuke and I argue.

"He was right about me dressing girly to compensate for being a fail of a lady." I said with a halfhearted glare. Itachi leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"You're still cute even if you're not really a lady." I looked up at him annoyed pushing down a blush of embarassment. I'm still 4 damn it. Just because people advance fast here, and being 5 is the same as being 11 in my old world doesn't mean he gets to try to sweet talk me. I went to stomp on Itachi's foot but he lifted me before I could. Sometimes I hate how perceptive he is. Annoyed, tired, and ready to go home, I finished my dance with Itachi, said bye to the rest of the Uchiha's, said bye to Ino and Sakura, and found my parents. I looked up at my mom with my puppy dog eyes and asked her to leave, yawning in the process. Noticing my swaying from exhaustion, mom picked me up and carried me the rest of the way home, allowing me to fall asleep with a smile. Even with all my complaining and epic failures, it was a fun week and I finally have girl friends for the first time ever.

* * *

** I don't own Naruto..that is Kishimoto's baby, I just fucked with the plot and character power levels and stuff.**

**So I wanted to put this out there explaining what will happen for the next few chapters so people wont go and shout OP or Maru-sue so soon. In a lot of Fanfic..I definitely like these but just saying...people always make it if a character is reincarnated, they either become evil, are useless, reveal their identity too early and do nothing to actually change the plot, or are like super PTSD and weak and don't want a ninja life so when a character like what I'm working on actually wants to be strong and works to do it, they are OP because they are young but hear me out. If you were born in somewhere like Naruto and knew things on how to power up faster and what to change...wouldn't you do the same thing and get stronger sooner than other characters...then help those characters also get stronger faster than they did in the Manga/Anime? I mean it stands to reason that if you know how to become stronger from what characters trained like or you know how chakra works and ways to get stronger through training and you had the ability to practice and learn right when you can walk, you'd be way more impressive way sooner than a lot of the other kids your age in the Shinobi world (bar Kakashi and Itachi)...at least that's what I think would happen.**


	5. Prodigy?

I woke up in the morning with energy that could rival Naruto's. A massive grin stretched across my face and my whole body started shaking, whether it was from excitement or nerves, I wasn't sure. It's probably the latter. Today is Ino's 5th birthday which means I finally get to meet the rest of the roookie 9, minus Naruto and Shino sadly. Naruto who I still haven't been able to find yet and Shino because the Aburame don't go out much. From what Ino told me, Shikamaru's, Choji's, Kiba's, and my family will be the clans going; Sakura and a few other girls will also be there.

I'm so excited to meet them and their parents, I hope I can make a good impression and make some more friends to hang around. I'm particularly excited to meet the super genius Shikamaru. I want to play him in shogi and see how I compare to the super genius...at least when he's so young. It took some time, but my father agreed to me going because I convinced him that making strong clan bonds with future leaders will help our clan thrive and be stronger with good allies, I also threw in that he could rub it in how much of a prodigy I am. I know my dad and he is so prideful that I knew he would agree just to prove our clan dominance.

I jumped out of bed and picked out a short lavender and white kimono that is easy to move in, since Ino made me promise to wear something girly. I then started a bath for myself and brushed my teeth. After finishing my bath, I put on my underwear and found mother so she could do my hair for me. She allowed me to put it into a nice high ponytail with my bangs hanging out. I got dressed and went back to my room to grab Ino's present. I was too excited to eat breakfast, so I made my parents finish eating quickly and dragged them out the door to go to the Yamanaka compound. The whole walk there, mom would look at me and laugh because I was bursting in excitement. She tried to subtly tell dad that she's glad I can still be like a child even with being a prodigy. He nodded in agreement and shared a knowing look with me since he knew I was listening. We made it to the compound and as soon as I walked in, I was dragged away by Ino.

"By Otousan, Okaasan. I will see you later." I waved laughing as Ino pulled me along.

"Hinata I'm so glad you came. Sakura won't be here for a while so I have been stuck with the boring boys, all they do is cloud watch. You can come with me to meet them and my parents who have been wanting to meet you!" Ino and I babbled about anything and everything until we reached her parents. Inoichi has long blond hair in a ponytail and blue eyes similar to Ino's. He's pretty well built and had a loving smile on his face as Ino pulled us up to him. Ino's mom looked a lot like Ino, and was smiling with her blue eyes shining in amusement at Ino dragging me along. I stood in front of them and bowed.

"Ohayo my name is Hinata Hyuuga. Arigato for allowing me to celebrate Ino's birthday. Your compound is very pretty with all of the flowers." Ino was giggling at my introduction and her parents were staring at me with small smiles until Ino's mom spoke up.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hinata-chan. You are so well mannered and so adorable. Ino has told us a lot about you so I am surprised at your choice in clothing." I blushed and gave a quick glare to Ino who just smirked at me.

"Yeah well Ino made me promise to dress up when I told her I would be wearing shorts, and when Ino wants something, it's really hard to say no." Both of her parents laughed at us.

"Its not my fault you dress and act like a boy Hinata. Anyways, we have to go and get food so I can introduce her to Shikamaru and Choji. Byee Okaasan, Otousan" Ino said and began dragging me along again. We stopped at a table full of food and before Ino could start to get food, I stopped her. I handed her the present and she quickly opened it and squealed in happiness.

"Thank you Hinata it's so pretty. I love it! It perfectly represents all of us with the flowers. Put it on me! Put it on me!" I gave Ino a necklace with a black rose, a cherry blossom, and a baby blue tulip, each flower represented Me, Sakura, and Ino. I grabbed the necklace and put it on Ino, I'm glad she liked it. I was hoping she would. After I put it on, she hugged me tightly then turned away and started getting food. We both piled our plates with fruits and other yummy food, mine was mainly dango, and headed over to a big tree. When we got a little close, I saw the figures of two boys, I'm guessing they are Shikamaru and Choji. We made it to the tree and I had to contain my excitement of meeting some of my favorite people, I hid it behind a mask of nervousness. Shikamaru's half-lidded brown eyes met mine and I could tell he was assessing me the same way I do to others. I like him already. We had a short stare down until he broke away and laid back down mumbling something about having another troublesome woman. I giggled and looked towards Ino who was fuming.

"Shikamaru! Don't be your lazy self and introduce yourself. I told you you would meet Hinata today so make a good impression. You too Hinata, don't just have a stare down. I said you were awesome don't make me seem like a liar." She shouted at both of us. Not feeling like debating with Ino, I turned to Choji and smiled at him, resulting in a surprised and shy smile in return. I stuck my hand out to him and he shook it hesitantly and at that I sat next to him still smiling.

"Ohayo, I'm Hinata Hyuuga. I'm 4, surprisingly friends with the loudmouth blonde, I like training, watching peoples reactions to stuff, games, nice people, and food. I don't like bullies, being outsmarted, too much girly stuff, and being a disappointment. My hobby is to make up songs, train, and pick on a duckbutt. From what Ino has said, you must be Choji." He gave me a not, looking between Shikamaru and I to make sure me being there is real. From what I remember, everyone picked on him for being fat so it must be a surprise that I'm not. Honestly though he's not fat, just cuddly.I know he's the sweetest person like ever, so I wanted him to be my friend. "Anyways, I grabbed extra food and since you have some I want, I was wondering if you were willing to trade two of my bags of chips for your Dango?" At my question, Choji gave me a real super happy smile and Shikamaru turned back to me with a knowing and somewhat thankful look for being friends whth Choji. I knew he could tell I was just doing it to be friends with Choji since I already had enough dango on my plate, but Choji not Ino seemed to notice.

"Oh wow thats awesome. Let's trade. Those are my favorite chips too." We traded and Choji munched happily until his face went back to a nervous one. Ino got up to leave to go get somebody, saying she would be right back. Choji turned back to me his eyes wide and hopeful.

"Umm so Hinata-san w-would you maybe want to be friends with m-me? You're the first g-girl to be nice and not call me names." I glomped him and shouted a yes smiling then giving a smile to Shikamaru who gave me a faint one back.

"Since we're friends call me Hinata. Using a honorific like san is just a waste. Hey does this mean I get to be friends with the lazy ass pineapple too?" I said pointing a thumb at Shikamaru. He turned his head to me and gave a sure. Sweet! After a minute of cloud watching and eating, I sat up.

"This is boring, I don't know how you do this lazy ass pineapple. Hey you're from the Nara clan so you must be really smart. I'm smart too I wanna see who is smarted. Lets play Shogi. You know how to play right?" I asked taunting him at his favorite game. He sat up, scoffed, and gave me a lazy glare.

"Of course I know how to play troublesome girl. Come on Choji, lets show this girl she'll never beat me." It was my turn to scoff, but I got up and followed him. We walked up to some of the parents and Shikamaru began talking to an older version of himself, Shikaku Nara and Choji went to talk to his dad Chōza, both sets looking up at me a bit. After a minute or so, Shikamaru grabbed Choji and walked back over to me, shoji board in his arms. Shikamaru set up the shogi board and we sat across from one another. Choji looking back and forth between us ready for the game to start. I wanted to win while I could, give it a month and I know he would destroy me with ease but hopefully I have the advantage at least for the first few games. My pride would be shot to hell if I lost.

After about an hour, Shikamaru and I were at a standstill. My parents, Shikamaru's parents, Choji's parents, Kiba's parents, and Ino's parents were watching the game intently. Shikamaru played his rook where I was hoping and that gave me the opportunity to complete my Akutsu Rapid Attack Yagura strategy _(thanks google)_ and put him in check mate. After I put Shikamaru in check mate, he looked between the board and me a few times before slumping down in defeat. I put on a shit eating grin and did a few laps singing _We Are the Champions._ Making all of the parents who arrived laugh at my antics.

"Damn troublesome girl. I cant believe I lost to someone so weird." I looked at Shikamaru and smirked.

"Yeah I cant believe this troublesome girl kicked your ass either!" That statement made me get a smack from my mom at my use of language. Shikamaru stood up finally and shook my hand offering to play me anytime. It was then that his parents walked up to me. Shikamaru's mother Yoshino, a pretty and tall woman with long brown hair she styled in a ponytail wearing a long red simple dress came up to me smiling. As soon as I said hi and did my normal greeting for adults, I was glomped tightly by her. She cooed at how adorable I am and my good manners and how she is so glad I put her son in his place. Then Shikaku saved me from being squeezed to death. I thanked him and told him I would like to play him someday. He didn't even look shocked, instead he was highly amused at my challenge.

"So you are a prodigy then. I thought your father might be talking you up but from watching you play shoji I believe him now." I smiled, if the smartest man alive thinks I'm special then hell yeah! I laughed at him a bit.

"Thank you for the acknowledgement, I am glad you think I am smart enough to be considered a prodigy in that aspect. I even got the cold Uchiha supremacist to train me after sparring against Itachi-san, so I know I'm a prodigy in battle. That is why I want to play shoji against you Nara-sama, I want to prove myself as a prodigy in fighting and intelligence. You are the smartest in the village and I believe Shikamaru is already on his way, a prodigy in his own right even if he's a lazy ass. Whats the point of being a prodigy in battle and knowledge if I am lacking in the skill to strategize. I want to see how well I can hold up against a true genius." Shikaku and the others looked at me incredulously when they learned about my training with the Uchiha, but then Shikaku began to chuckle. He patted the top of my head fondly.

"I never thought I'd see the day Fugaku-san would accept a non Uchiha. You really are a troublesome girl Hinata-chan. We can play shoji sometime later." I fist pumped and said goodbye. Grabbing Shikamaru ad Choji's hands I pulled them towards Ino, Sakura, and who I think to be Kiba, Shikamaru grumbling the whole way. We walked up to them and Sakura gave me a hug, stuttering a hello. Ino yelled at me for leaving her so that I could play the boring game of shoji. I laughed and let her rant at me while Sakura giggled at me smirking at Ino's yells. After she finished and forgave me, Ino began to introduce Sakura to Shikamaru and Choji. I walked over to Kiba, who was climbing a tree, and shouted at him making him fall off the tree.

"Hey girl what was that for?" He growled/whined at me. I laughed at his pout.

"Nothing, I just wanted to say hi. I'm Hinata Hyuuga, who are you?"  
"Cool! I'm Kiba Inuzuka. Do you like dogs? I do. I'm going to have a ninken of my own someday and we're going to be the toughest shinobi." He said proudly showing off his canines in a smile.

"Yeah! I love dogs they are soo cool! I cant wait to see what kind of ninken you get, but you wont be the strongest shinobi, I will." I teased, knowing he's a hothead.

"You take that back, you're a girl so its impossible to be stronger than me." I laughed and the other kids looked at Kiba in pity, knowing I was going to teach him a lesson.

"Wanna test that out you sexist dog boy? Lest spar if you're not too chicken." I said getting annoyed at how he said I'm weak because I'm a girl. He and Sasuke would get along great with their idea of girls being weak. Shikamaru explained what sexist was making Kiba laugh. Kiba boasted about his training already beginning with his parents, expecting me to back off, but then grinned at me when I stayed and gave him a smirk in response. I'm so going to crush his ego and show off a bit to impress the parents since I know they are watching.

We made the seal of confrontation and in Kiba's animalistic fashion, he came running at me pretty quickly, a fist aimed at my face. I stayed in place letting him think I was too slow to move, and right before the hit landed, I flash stepped behind him and landed a blow to his solar plexus, a toned down version of a move Shisui and Fugaku have been having me learn, making him stumble but not fall. I flashed in front of him, grabbed his fist and forced it behind his back until he fell to the ground in pain. I sat on his back until he tapped out giving me the win. I released him and Kiba sprang up pointing at me.

"What the hell was that? Damn it I want a rematch." I pretended to be tired, and sent a wink to my parents who were looking at me in approval.

"I would but you're strong and now I'm tired. Maybe another day Kiba." Shikamaru gave me a look of knowing I was faking, then smirked. Because Kiba thought I was more tired than him, he seemed to be happy again and decided to keep me as a friend. Ino and Sakura came running up to me cheering.

"Wow Hinata, when you said you were strong, I wasn't expecting you to be this strong. Thats amazing, you totally kicked his butt!" Ino said proud of her best friend.

"That w-was a-amazing Hinata-chan. You are r-really strong." I smiled at their praise. For the rest of the afternoon, all of us kids, except Shikamaru who slept most of the time, played games of Ino's choice. It was fun and we all became more excited for us to join the academy together next year. Kiba was really fun to hang out with, because his wild attitude went well with mine and he never seemed to care about me being a 'fail' of a girl. He thought I was cool 'for a girl' and said that I will be the first person to get to see his ninken when he gets it. Choji was super sweet and happy to finally meet people who won't make fun of him. At the end of the day, the boys left and Ino begged for Sakura and I to sleepover. We got permission and I said bye to my parents who were glowing with pride for some reason.

_(3d pov)The parents conversation_

The Clan Leaders were watching Hinata in interest. Earlier that day, Hiashi informed the other clan heads about his daughter Hinata being a prodigy. He went on to explain when Hinata was walking, talking, and the harsh training she has been enduring since she was 1. Most of the parents were in disbelief and though Hiashi was exaggerating to prove that his clan is the best, a notion he implies in many conversations. It was when he let slip how he thinks she will surpass him soon, that Shikaku became interested. The genius knows that Hiashi would never say someone is better than him unless they've earned it. There is something special about Hinata Hyuuga and he is determined to see if she is the prodigy he is beginning to suspect she is, a prodigy of the levels of the great Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha. The other parents were just entertained to watch the very pretty, albeit very unladylike girl play with the boys.

Shikaku saw something different. Her mannerisms and the way her eyes were so calculating with every reaction people had to her, he knew she was smart. She acted in ways that children her age should not, but covered it up pretending to be a child. When she met Choji and offered him to trade food, Shikaku knew it was just a way to get Choji to trust her. That is not the action of a child just trying to get food, it was the action of someone who could understand what would benefit her into making him trust her. Hinata, instead of making fun of Choji for his weight like others, used her analysis to befriend him, knowing it would also help her get in the graces of Shikamaru, based off the small smile she gave Shikamaru. Shikaku glanced at his son and could tell that Shikamaru was beginning to think the same thing. Maybe this girl is a prodigy, or maybe she is just emotionally more observant than others. She definitely does not fit the Hyuuga stereotype though. All of the parents eyes were on the children, watching them have fun.

Inoichi Yamanaka was fully believed Hinata was a prodigy of generations. Being in the T&I unit, he was in charge of interrogating some Iwa shinobi last year in their attempted kidnapping of the little Byakugan Princess. He heard how Hinata, at the young age of 3, was able to fend them off and cause serious damage long enough for her father to come save her. Watching her now, Inoichi noticed how Hinata was watching and analyzing everything even as she passed it off as just having fun. From watching her he could tell that she knew how to get the reactions out of others, she was calculating and knows how the mind works, a perfect candidate to go into undercover work or his T&I unit. The one thing that baffled Inoichi was Hinatas eyes. They held love and dertermination, for what he doesn't know, but they hold an extreme sadness he finds mainly in those who are lonley. What has she been through to gain those eyes. Inoichi took a glance towards Hiashi to see if maybe Hinata is being abused, but by the proudness, Inoichi has never seen before, in Hiashi's eyes, that is not it. Even with that sadness, Inoichi decides Hinata is a kind girl who truly wants the best for the people around her.

Hiashi Hyuuga kept a close eye on his daughter. He wants her to be strong and make the Hyuuga clan prosper. As cold hearted as he is, his little princess warms his heart. She is everything he was and more. Hiashi knows his daughter is more talented than himself in the shinobi arts, and will surpass him soon enough using their clan justus. He also knows of her extracurricular training, creating her own style using attacks that he has never seen attempted before combined with the strength of Lady Tsunade, which he could not figure out how she knew that. At first he was furious at Hinata for not using the clan techniques, that was until he saw her training herself. IT is a mastery of technique that is almost impossible to pick up patterns, combined with the flexibility, gymnastics, speed, and strength it is a technique of a true master in the making. Hiashi watches as his daughter runs herself into the ground harder than any shinobi he has seen before.

She was even impressive enough to gain the favor of the Uchiha, although he does not like the idea of his daughter marrying brats like them, the reasoning behind it is sound. She thinks like a great leader one fit to be a Hokage. Hiashi watches intently as his daughter befriends two boys, using her assessments to decide how to interact to gain the favor of the boys. That is where his is most proud. Hiashi was never able to befriend people like that; in fact, he never cared to. His daughter has the skill of a prodigy but the love and emotions that are usually stripped away when being declared a prodigy. He is concerned with the weight his daughter seems to carry, it is as if she knows something he doesn't and it hurts her. HE see's it flash every once and awhile in her eyes and does not know how to help his precious daughter.

Now as all of the parents were figuring out Hinata was a prodigy, the proof came out in three stages.

The first stage, a game of Shoji, sealed Skikaku's belief. When Shikamaru came up and told Shikaku that the cute little girl challenged him to shoji, he wanted to laugh. As smart as Hinata may be, Shikamaru is the smartest as they come in terms of children. Though, Shikaku and Inoichi were both interested to see the battle to better understand how little Hinata's brain worked, especially in tough strategy situations. Hiashi was excited to watch because he believed in the intelligence of his daughter and knew that she was being underestimated greatly. The other parents were just watching in enjoyment of the cute little girl who was so eager to play a boring game for old men. Everyone watched the game in different levels of intensity. Shikaku watched Hinata's moves, Inoichi watched Hinata, Hiashi watched everyone else watch his daughter, and everyone else watched in amusement at the cute kids. Of the parents, the only ones still watching were the three fathers invested into the game. Shikaku was surprised to say the least.

He watched as the Hyuuga girl defeated every one of Shikamaru's set ups pushing Shikamaru, unknowingly into her defense formation. Her strategy was genius and after Shikamaru's final move and Hinata putting into check mate, Shikaku accepted that Hinata was a genius worth of the title of a Prodigy. Inoichi on the other hand was impressed with Hinata's tactics. She truly is a talkative, reckless, and sarcastic girl, but she also uses that to her advantage. When playing shoji, it is usually quiet, Hinata plays differently. She talks during each of her moves and acts as though each of her moves are at random, making them quickly and wildly, but when Inoichi watched her eyes, she was studying intently every possible move, she talked about nothing but her mind was fully on the game before her. Inoichi knew and still believes Hinata was cunning, a true prodigy. Hiashi watched as his daughter won against the Nara boy, he also watched the reactions of Inoichi and Shikaku. He watched as they realized and accepted his daughter was a prodigy, and an amazing one at that. Hiashi felt very proud of his daughter, but more so when he realized how, even with he pressure of a prodigy, she is determined to not let it break her into a shell of herself.

The second stage, a spar with Kiba, sealed the belief of her being a prodigy to all of the parents there. After the shocking game of shoji, Hinata was now on the radar of the parents because she was smart. Many of the parents thought the sweet girl was just a smart child, not a true prodigy. That was until she told them that she sparred with Itachi Uchiha, one of the greatest prodigies to ever live, and fared well enough to get the ice block asshole Fugaku Uchiha to want to train her. They watched more intensely as she left. The next schock for the parents came when Hiashi said that she trains with Sasuke, Itachi, Shisui, and Fugaku. He also revealed that Fugaku has arranged Hinatas marriage but she declined him saying she will marry who she wants. The parents realized Hinata must be something if the Uchiha were willing to mix clans and marry a non Uchiha with a Uchiha heir, especially a child that was so happy and loud and foul-mouthed, and that she was brave enough to tell him no.

All of the parents watched in amusement and interest as the Byakugan princess challenged the wild Kiba Inuzuka to a spar. Inuzuka were known for strength and speed, alongside their tracking and ninken, and Kiba has already been training. The parents noticed how Hinata is small compared to Kiba, and this spar would really show if she was the prodigy like her father and others think she is. Every parent watched as Kiba threw a fast punch to Hinata, and then gasped when she moved last second, in a flash step that could only come from the teachings of Shisui Uchiha. In the blink of their trained shinobi eyes, they watched in amazement as Hinata pinned Kiba like it was nothing. Her skills, even though they were barely shown, were enough in the parents eyes to convince them that Hinata Hyuuga was truly fit for the title of a prodigy.

It was 5 in the morning when I had to force myself out of bed. Why, the damned Uchiha's who train me thought it would be a good idea to wake up 2 hours earlier today to train. I'm not really sure why or how it will benefit my training but whatever. I got out of bed stumbling over myself, still half asleep. I didn't bother to do my hair, I just left it in its, somehow anime magic, perfect ponytail from the night before. I did a shitty brush of my teeth and walked into my closet. I pulled out my white training onesie thing and slipped it on along with gloves, metal guards, my thigh holster, and my sandals. I stumbled down the stairs and walked outside into the brisk early morning air and walked to my escourt for the morning, Shisui. I'm really glad I got Shisui as my escort today because he is less of a morning person than I am. I'd be pissed if someone else came, somehow the rest of my training buddies look wide awake in the morning and it makes me want to stick a kunai in their hand. I am a full on night owl and I will never understand morning people, they are psychotic. I rubbed my eyes and looked closer at Shisui. He looked dead tired and was basically a walking zombie. He took one look at me, gave a weak laugh and we walked to the training grounds.

We arrived to the training grounds and I looked towards the others with a massive scowl on my face. I was right, they look wide awake and ready for the day. Those assholes. Sasuke was laughing at me saying I'm weak and look like I'm going to sleep at any second. Itachi just looked amused at Shisui and my sleepy state. Fugaku looked annoyed at everyone except Itachi.

"Today for training, Sasuke, I have low hopes since you are not Itachi, but you need to perfect the Great Fireball technique. For the first half of the day, Itachi and I will train with Hinata, the second half Shisui you will work with her on speed. Get to work." Fugaku barked at us. Damn him, Sasuke looked so happy to train until Fugaku had to compare Sasuke to Itachi. Sasuke looked so sad when his father said he had little faith in him, it made me want to cry out for him. It's hard to watch somebody so happy get so depressed because of their father being an ass. It's not Sasuke's fault though, like he thinks it is. Itachi is special and I think Sasuke is lightning natured more so than pure fire like other Uchiha. In the past, their have been some really talented lightning natured Uchihas. If Fugaku would realize that, maybe he would lay off Sasuke and stop making him hurt so much inside.

I tried to shake my sleepiness off and walked over to Fugaku. He started my training by having me run a few laps, do some strength and cardio, go through my flexibility stretches, and go through all of my katas starting basic and moving into the advanced ones he taught me. After Itachi and I finished our individual warm ups, Itachi would instruct me on proper technique for shuriken and kunai. Even after all of his instruction, I was still bad at shuriken. I was fine with kunai and could hit the center of the target, but shuriken I would mess up every time and leave cuts in my hands. I had to throw 100 kunai inter the center with each hand before I was aloud to move on. Then I had to work my way up to holding 5 kunai in each hand and hitting the target. I still am not very accurate with this kind of throwing, which amuses Sasuke to no end because he is way better at it than I am. Then comes my enemies, shuriken. I got in my stance ready to throw my shuriken when Itachi came over giving me an annoyed look.

"Hinata you are doing the stance wrong again. How many times are you going to injure yourself before you figure this out?" I just shrugged, making him turn back into his special ice cube self. He then used his hands to guide my body through the proper movements. Gosh I feel like an idiot, I'm never going to be good at shuriken. After an explanation that only Itachi could give me, I released the shuriken and it hit the target without cutting my fingers. Forgetting my annoyance witht them, I punched my fist in the air then glomped Itachi.

"Ha take that you shuriken assholes, I finally did it. Itachi you are the best!" I cheered hanging off Itachi like a Kohala. He just shook his head at me and gave me a slight smile, returning my hug. He poked my forehead.

"Took you long enough Hime." Which made me stick my tounge out but I couldnt hold in my smile. Fugaku walked over to me and brought my mood down.

"That was bad, do it until you hit the center." I glared at his retreating back and went back to work. For the next few hours I was training with the shuriken. I'm about 50/50 with hitting the center so I'll leave it at that for now. At midday, everyone met back in the middle of the training grounds. We all, minus Fugaku who was a work now, looked a little worse for wear. Shisui handed each of us a bento Mikoto brought and we all sat down eating. I sat next to Sasuke and we talked about our training. He told me, with a huge grin, about how it took forever but he finally got the Fireball Jutsu down and now Fugaku will be proud of him. I gave him a fist bump and told him that now he will kick even more ass, resulting in Itachi slapping me for using foul language in front of his precious little brother. Sasuke was almost jumping from excitement thinking about showing his dad he finished the justu. When we were almost done with lunch I decided to speak up about Sasuke's chakra nature, it has been bothering me so much because of how Fugaku treats him.

"Hey 'tachi-san" I sid getting him to turn towards me giving me his full attention.

"Hn"

"I read about chakra natures and stuff, I was wondering if you had chakra paper to test mine and Sasuke's." Itachi looked at me questioning but then got out the chakra paper and demonstrated how it works. Sasuke and I both did it. My paper became wet then crinkled up. I was not expedting that, sweet I have a primary Water and seondary Lightning nature. Perfect combination for me. I looked over to Sasuke's, his crinkled up the burned, just like I thought. He is primary lightning and secondary fire. Itachi and Shisui looked shocked at his paper. Sasuke looked at us and got nervous.

"Hey guys is something wrong." I gave him a smile

"Nope I just wanted to prove my thought was right."

"About what freak?" Sasuke asked looking annoyed.

"Well I know you're a prodigy even if its differnt level than Itachi, so when the fireball justu was so exhausting for you, I thought you have a different primary chakra nature and fire is your secondary one. Being an Uchiha, you are able to use fire, but your main chakra affinity is for lightning." Sasuke looked smug at me calling him a prodigy but his face dropped when I said his Nature wasnt fire.

"No I'm an Uchiha, I have to have fire. Dad is going to not watch me even more." Sasuke said so sad he was almost crying. I turned towards Itachi to have him handle this. He put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and gave him a smile that is reserved only for Sasuke. Itachi poked Sasuke on the forehead.

"It isn't unheard of for Uchiha to have lightning nature, that makes it even more impressive that you perfected the great fireball technique." Sasuke brightened up at his brothers praise and gave him a huge hug, his small arms rapped tightly around his beloved Aniki's waist. Shisui threw his arm around me as a gesture of him understanding why I did what I did, we smiled at the scene. Being with them for so long, its hard for me to fathom how Itachi and Sasuke become so ruthless in the future, they are just such loving people, even if Sasuke is a cocky ass. Right as they pulled apart, Sasuke's eyes sparkling in glee, Shisui flashed over to Itachi and pulled his ponytail, then glomped him like a child, actions from Shisui Itachi hates more than anything. Itachi and Sasuke gave glares to Shisui for his antics and I snickered at their annoyance.

"All right 'tachi-chan, after that _adorable _moment between you two, its time to switch training. It's my turn to work with Hinata-hime since she's probably bored working with the ever cold 'tachi-chan." Shisui said with an obnoxious grin

"Hn."

"Hey don't insult Aniki, he's the greatest and that freaky girl was lucky for him to train her." Sasuke said pointing his finger accusingly at Shisui. Shisui's grin widened, and I gave a small smirk waving my hand dismissively at the whole scene.

"Yeah yeah duckbutt, your Aniki is the most magnificent person ever" I said full of sarcasm. I grabbed Shisui and we locked eyes, before anyone could reply he flickered us out of there. As soon as we made it to our area, I doubled over in laughter.

"hahaha you made them so annoyed, teach me your ways master." I said mock bowing to Shisui.

"Yes, one day my dear pupil I will help you become a master in the arts of Uchiha annoyance. With Sasuke you seem to be fine already though." We grinned at each other and laughed.

After our fun escape, Shisui made me begin my training. Shisui might be the most fun of the Uchiha in terms of his personality, but he is also the harshest coach. Nobody babies me, but with my other training, Itachi and Fugaku are hands off for the most part. They only step in when something is wrong. Shisui on the other hand is a drill sergeant. He is with me every step of the training making me fix every minuscule detail until it is exactly how he wants. Itachi is a perfectionist in every way, but he leaves me to figure out something myself unless I really need the guidance. For the most part, that works and I can solve my problems (except damn shuriken) alone. When doing body flicker though, it is very meticulous and needs precise chakra for it to be really successful. Shisui yells at me and makes me stop and repeat an action over and over, even after I've perfected it.

Body flicker also is a special process of continuous chakra unlike other jutsu so he yells at me to ensure I don't mess up and blow somebody up. It's a pretty well known jutsu, almost everyone can use it, Shisui is the only one who has it mastered to such an impressive level. Shisui makes me practice every training session we have together until I am borderline passing out from Chakra exhaustion. Its harsh and a few times I have been in the hospital from his training, for either flickering right into the trunk of a tree, using too much chakra, or getting chakra burns from not controlling it properly in the justu. Because the body flicker makes you move so quickly, sometimes you can flicker right into an attack innstead of a place to counter it, thats why it isnt used as widely. Having a dojutsu like the Sharingan or Byakugan helps with countering that. Shisui doesn't want me to rely on that though so he took it upon himself to make me practice flickering away from attacks by sending barrages of kunai and shuriken towards me. Some of the kunai are painted with a color and my training is I have to grab those while also dodging and flickering away from the other projectiles without getting hit. Lets just say the first few months of that, I was bloody and battered every day going home.

I have a good grasp on the body flicker now. I don't get chakra burns anymore and my cuts have gone down by quite a lot, but I am nowhere near the level of Shisui. He truly is a master and I don't think anybody will ever compare to his skillful use in the justu. I also know I will not master it like him, because Shisui can use it continuously and in every movement, making it his attack while I can only successfully use it in defense and for short bursts of time. I can use it to get into a place for an attack, but not as an attack in itself like Shisui does. I will never know how he makes it look like there are a bunch of himself and making them attack, he's that fast.

After finishing with my Uchiha training day, we all went back to meet Fugaku for dinner and discuss how the training went for the day. Itachi informed Fugaku about Sasuke and I's chakra natures. Fugaku was impressed with me for figuring out Sasuke's main nature was not fire, he also gave sasuke slight praise for mastering a technique that was not his main nature, as well as having a powerful nature such as lightning. I swear at his praise, I've never seen Sasuke so happy and Itachi so content. It was also at this time, so full of family love, that I informed them of my mother being pregnant.

When mom and dad told me that she was pregnant, I cried. They looked relieved at my excitement for getting a sibling, I think they thought I would be mad, but I couldn't be more happy. I finally get to have a real sibling that I can love and care for. Shisui has taken the spot as my big brother and we love each other like true siblings, but I cant help but be excited to have a blood sibling for the first time. I know I'm going to have a little sister and I cant wait. I've already decided she is going to be the little perfect princess I am not. I honestly have no clue on how to be a sister, but I love her so much already ad I will do whatever it takes to keep my baby sis safe.

Throughout the rest of my time being 4, other than the time I have spent training, I spent with my friends. After a full year of being friends with Sakura, and our constant pushing, Sakura finally broke free of her shy girl state. Now that she is more like Sakura from canon, her and Ino have made it their mission to transform me into a real girl. Everyrtime we hang out, it turns into a training camp for me to become a girl. Just to appease them, I go along with it. I've finally learned the art of makeup, how to do my hair in basic styles (I will never be able to do anything super elegant or pretty), and how to properly put on a kimono. They also got me into painting my nails. Its really fun and I love doing cool colors like red or black, which made them scream in horror of how black and red are too scary of colors for good girls. The only time's I've refused are on tea ceremonies and stuff like that, I will never ever do one again. We also find entertainment in me 'making up' songs for us to sing and dance along to. I'm starting to worry about my friendships with them because they are starting to become more and more interested in boys and we will start the academy next year which is when Ino and Sakura have their rivalry start. I don't want to lose them as friends because of Sasuke, but I have no clue how to handle the situation. For now though, thats the least of my worries. If I'm not hanging out with Ino and Sakura, I hang out with Shikamaru and Choji.

Other than Sasuke, Shikamaru is the only person my age who I don't have to define words or dumb down talking and its super refreshing. Shikamaru and I play shoji every chance we get and its really fun to play then explain our strageties. I have the upper hand of 15 wins and 6 losses so far, but Shikamaru is the toughest opponent, other than his father who I have yet to beat. Choji sits and watches us play, content with just being around us and talking. Even when Choji doesn't fully understand what we are talking about, he still is there with a smile on his face. Choji is truly the sweetest person ever and I woudln't trade him for anything. After shoji, we like to go cloud watching, and thats when Choji and I have competitions to see who can eat the most. Choji wins almost every time, except if its with dango. I never gain weight since I'm still young and my training is so harsh I burn more calories than I ever could eat. I also get to hang out with Kiba sometimes. He spends a lot of time training and working with dogs so we dont have much time together, but when we do its so much fun. Kiba is wild and crazy, and he handles my hyperactive weird self really well. We usually have competitions since his new goal is to beat me. His mom Tsume is also around when we hang out, and she seems to like me since I like dogs and have a strong personality for a woman. She especially likes when I beat Kiba, which is most of the time. It's a breath of fresh air to have breaks with training and to just be a kid hanging with my friends.

Alongside training and friends, every night I have been making plans on how I am going to make a change. I know, since gladly I am not Naruto and don't have the burden of being the child of prophecy, I don't have to change everything, but I decided to do as much positive change as possible. Since my plan with Neji and his father didn't work so well, I had to change strategies. I have written down every event I know of in a timeline to help me decide what to fix and see how it affects the timeline. I know my meddling will change a lot but at least I will have a baseline to start with. My first two things on my new plan is to befriend Naruto and make him stronger so he will be less sad and there will be less casualties. My second one has to do with the Uchiha massacre, a topic that has had me sick to my stomach trying to figure out what to do. Before any big events happen, I still have a few years to plan everything out which is the only reason I haven't gone crazy from stressing about my interference.

My birthday was fun, I got to hang out with my friends and we played games and just got to be around each other. It helped me de-stress form my life. Presents are always fun too, since I never had them in the past life. From Sakura, she gave me a set of black, red, gold, and blue nail polish as well as a coupon to get free dango for a month. Ino got me my first real ninja outfit because my onesies were so overrated: a lavender and black battle kimono with black shorts to go underneath. Shikamaru got me a beautiful shoji board of my own with each square had our names carved into them. Choji got me a newly released book on shoji strategies and a new set of my favorite mangas. Kiba got me a black bracelet with a dog charm that looked like a dog collar, and I can store chakra in it for future use if I run low or something, as well as it helping him sense me better.

Sasuke got me a new pair of fingerless gloves, that grow along with my hands and wont tear with chakra usage, they were black and had intricate vine detailing in lavender and dark blue. The inside of the gloves were also made of a soft silk and had the Uchiha crest all over it. Itachi took me to the store and helped me pick out my own weapon to incorporate into my fighting. I got a twin set of beautifully crafted daggers, the blades were double edged silver and sharp and the hilt was black with a beautiful lion detailing. Mikoto and Fugaku, probably Mikoto's idea, gave me a family heirloom, a diamond encrusted Uchiha necklace. My parents gave me new books on chakra usage and also my first real book on water style justus. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

In January, we had a baby shower for my mom. I thought it was going to be unneventful, boy was I wrong. I see Neji every so often since it is his job to protect me. He usually stays far away from me and watches. Every once and awhile I sneak out to watch him train with his father and some other talented branch members. Neji is really talented, he is learning the Hyuuga style gentle fist so quickly and learns and by the look of things he will be able to master clan techniques faster than any of the head family members I've seen training in the techniques. He's talented but he's driven by his hate of the head family, which sucks because I really want to train with him and learn the palm rotation like he's learning.

Neji's obvious avoidance of me was what made it surprising when he showed up for the baby shower with Uncle Hizashi. He didn't do a good job hiding the disdain for my family, especially me, so beofre my dad could say something to make the situation worse, I gave a hug to Uncle Hizashi and pulled Neji into a training ground to let him vent his anger on me. Neji was too shocked by my actions to react until we got to the training grounds. He turned to me, his face contorting from shock to one of the most hate filled glares I have even seen in my life. It hurt that I could make somebody hate me that much.

"What do _you _want Hinata-sama?" Neji spat out like my name was acid on his tongue. Losing my confidence, I put on a fake smile that seemed to falter as his glare hardened even more.

"Let's spar. You can take out all of your hate for me right here right now." Neji put on an evil smirk at that point.

"Lets spar. Ha, you are so weak. It is your destiny to lose to me, the prodigy. You are a failure and always will be, you fight for nothing and that makes you worthless. Soon everyone else will see it too."

"We will see about that wont we." Right then, Neji attacked. His attacks were quick and precise, he has real talent for a boy in his first year of the academy. I saw each hit coming, and I knew exactly how to counter, but I didn't. I let each and every hit he threw at me land. Each hit had no chakra, this was attacks of pure reckless anger, not the attacks of a shinobi. The pain was immediate and after a few well placed attacks, I began to cough up blood. Yet I did not move or fall down. I allowed him to hit and kick me as much as he wanted too. After a few minutes of relentles attacks, Neji finally spoke up. He threw punch to my face.

"Fight back are you so weak you will just stand there?" Another punch. I coughed and looked up to meet his hate filled eyes.

"If I was weak, why am I still standing?" A strong kick and a yell from Neji.

"Then FIGHT BACK you worthless girl. I hate you, you ruined everything. It is because of you father is blind. It's ALL YOUR FAULT! It was his destiny to be strong, but now he is weak. Just like you, you will always be weak when you let people push you around like me. You disgust me." His screams turned into whispers and his hate turned into sadness as he beat me. I could no longer stand up and I fell to my knees but the attacks didnt stop.

"Neji-san, I know its my fault. I'm sorry I couldn't save your fathers eyes, that is why, I will not fight back. I can beat you but I wont. That wont do anything. I will take every hit you give me, put all of your hatred into it so you can finally have room for love again. I love you, you and if this is how I show my love, by letting you beat me senseless, then so be it. I will be here until you no longer hate me." I said to him with a weak smile on my face as blood began to trip into my eyes turning my vision red and murky. I could barely make out the tears pouring down Neji's face at my statement. I could hear his breathing become so ragged, I knew he was about to collapse. Neji gave in a few more hits and kicks, I finally collapsed laying on the ground. A few seconds later, I could feel Neji lay beside me.

"H-How can you, I don't understand, Why?" He gasped out in a whisper. I reached around for his hand and held it, he didn't pull away.

"Like I said dumbass, I love you and I will let you beat your hate away until you love me too." I could feel the blood pooling around me. I should probably go to he hospital soon, but it was worth it. I felt Neji steady his breathing more, then he picked me up. I was barley conscious at this point, but I allowed him to take me to wherever he was going. I could feel him running and his arms tightening around me. He was mumbling into my hair.

"Please Hinata, I'm sorry. I know it wasn't really your fault. Stay awake. Come on, were almost to the hospital." I smiled, it worked. it felt as though a weight on my heart had been lifted now that I have Neji filled with less hate and contempt. Neji sopped and I heard faint shouting. The last thing I felt before blacking out was Neji kissing my forehead and whispering an "I love you too, little sister."

I woke up greeted with blinding white light. I looked around, allowing my cloudy vision to adjust to the brightness of the room. Damn, the white walls and gross smell, I'm in the hospital again. I tried to move, but couldn't because of the pain I felt in my abdomen. I looked at my body, I was covered in bandages. The little skin I could see was bruised darkly. Damn who would have thought letting yourself get your ass kicked by someone who hated you would hurt so bad. I heard faint snoring and looked to my left. Neji was sleeping in the chair beside's by bed. I wasn't dreaming then, he really doesn't hate me anymore, sweet! I shifted a bit, but let out a groan. Neji woke up and was quickly by my side, looking at me with a mixture of guilt and worry. He grabbed my hand tightly, I could see the glassy look in his eyes from the tears trying to escape.

"Hinata, I'm so sorry, If i wasn't..." I cut him off.

'No Neji don't do that. It was my choice and I would do it over and over again. If I didn't let you, we wouldnt be hear doing this right now. You would still hate me and say something about my destiny to be a weak failure." I let out a pained and fake laugh. Neji looked at me again, and nodded his head acknowledging that I'm right. He then pulled me into a hug, and even though it hurt like hell, I let him. All while he repeated "I'm sorry" over and over. Once he let go, I gave him a mischievous smile.

"So are you going to help me escape this hell hole?" Neji looked at me annoyed.

"No, you will stay here until the doctors say you can leave." I pouted and huffed annoyance. Stupid rule following Neji. After a few minutes of silence, my eyes began to flutter closed, until the door of my room was thrown open. I opened my eyes and saw my parents and Uncle Hizashi come into the room. My mother held Hizashi and let them over to me. They embraced me and mother was crying for how worried she was for me. Uncle Hizashi just had a pained look on his face. I looked over to father, he was fuming. I've never in my life seen him so angry. I looked at where his gaze was and it was fully on Neji. Before I could say something, dad had Neji pinned up against the wall by his throat.

"You need to learn your place Neji. You disrespect and attack the heir of the Hyuuga clan, worse you send my daughter to the Hospital. Whats to stop me from killing you right now as reparations." Neji looked down ashamed.

"Nothing Hyuuga-sama." Father turned on his Byakugan and right before he could land a strike on Neji, ignoring all of the pain I deflected the attack into the wall beside Neji. After the movement I fell to the ground, but before I hit, dad dropped Neji to cradle me in his arms. His eyes still flaring dangerously, but softened when he saw me.

"Otousan, please. It was my choice, I told Neji to take all of his hate on me so he could love again. You and I both know I let this happen. Don't hurt him, he was the one who brought me here after our little fight. Please otousan, please don't punish him." I said holding onto my dad like it was a lifeline. He looked at my teary face and I felt the anger fade. Squeezing me tighter, he mumbled into the top of my head.

"My stupid daughter, you scared us all, you scared me. I won't punish Neji, but if it happens again I can't say the same. Lets go home, I will have a nurse care for you in the compound away from prying eyes." I smiled at dad and he walked out of the room with me in his arms. Everyone followed suit and we went back to the compound where I was on bedrest.

The next event that shaped my life came from the birth of Hanabi. Throughout the last month of my mothers pregnancy, she began to look weak and sickly, she could barely do anything for herself. I didn't know much about pregnancy, but the eerie feeling I was beginning to have told me that this was wrong. I noticed the worried whispers of her nurses and midwife. My father looked more stressed and agitated then usual, especially during training when he was exceptionally cruel. I pushed my worries aside and just focused on taking care of my mom, even lessening my training to always be there for her and make sure she and the baby are ok. On March 27, mom went into labor. I ran out of her delivery room and grabbed dad. WE returned to the room and I help onto one of moms hands. Her grip was crushing my fingers, but I coated my hand in chakra and let her squeeze.

I ignored everything except focusing on mom to make sure she would be ok; I didn't hear the panicked shouting of the nurses, nor did I hear that Hanabi came out. I watched mothers face intently and I saw as her eyes began to fade. I watched her mouth moving, but I couldn't hear anything she was saying. After a particularly loud scream, I snapped back into reality. I heard a nurse say there is nothing left they can do. They all left to clean off Hanabi, leaving me, mom, and dad alone. No no no no. This can't be happening. After she finished talking to dad, who looked so broken in a way I've never seen, she turned to me with that warm motherly smile. This time, instead of the comfort I felt from it, it was haunting, emphasized with the dull grey of her eyes and hollow cheekbones. She released my hand and put it on my cheek, wiping away the tears I didn't know I had.

"Hinata-chan, my beautiful princess. I love you so much."

"No Okaachan, mommy please no." I cried into her hand.

"Shh. It's alright hime. You are beautiful, strong, smart, kind, and so talented. You are perfect the way you are. Promise me you wont change yourself no matter how much the clan pushes you." I nodded. "Protect your sister and your friends like I know you can. Don't be afraid of love, I want you to fall in love with a handsome boy who loves you. Goodbye my darling. Tell Hanabi I loved her please." Mom closed her eyes and I felt her breathing stop. I jumped on top of her and buried my head into her chest.

"Mommy please. I promise, I promise. You can't go. Stay STAY! I need you, you can't leave us." I wailed. I felt multiple arms wrap around my small frame and rip me off her body. I was thrashing screaming for my mom when I felt myself get pulled into a warm embrace. I inhaled and could smell the scent of Shisui. He was whispering words I couldn't hear, but I felt myself relax into him. I cried into his shirt for what felt like hours until I fell asleep in his arms.

I woke up and all I could feel is numbness. My mother, the one who cared for me, is gone. How do people handle this, it feels like my world has collapsed in on itself. I'm not even in my room, I have no idea where I am. Nobody is here, I am alone. Shisui came in, I must be in his room. I looked at him and blinked. He smiled but flinched away at my stare. I cant bring myself to smile, it wont work. Itachi and Sasuke came in following behing him. I still didn't ackwnoledge them, I couldn't, it hurt too much. Sasuke pushed past Itachi, ignoring his warings to stay away, and hugged me. Sasuke was borderline suffocating me with his hug, but I didn't care. My whole body was cold but he was warm. Shisui asked me if I wanted another hug. When I weakly nodded yes, I was pulled into Itachi's lap and Shisui hugged my other side. I was surrounded by them but it helped, I could feel something other than cold. We stayed like that for a bit, but Shisui knew I needed a distraction. Him and Sasuke then began to tell me about training and playing at the park. I cried a bit, but they kept talking. Then they began to talk about Hanabi. Shit Hanabi, I promised I would take care of her.

"Where is she?" I choked out, my voice raspy from crying. Someone, I'm not sure who, said she is with Mikoto. My dad left on a month long mission today, and I am staying with the Uchiha's for the time being.

"I want to see her." Itachi moved me off of his lap into Shisui's and left the room. A minute later he returned with Mikoto in tow, she was holding a bundle of pink blankets. Sasuke let go of me and Mikoto placed Hanabi into my awaiting arms. Even with my small body, Hanabi was smaller. She smiled at me and I cried, giving her a small smile back. All of the sadness flowed away for a minute, replaced with love. She's mine, my little sister. I lost my mom but now I have a sister to love and care for the same way mom did for me. I touched her cheek and her small fingers wrapped around my index finger. I can't believe she's my sister, other than our eyes, we look nothing alike. She looks so much more like mom and dad than I do. She has brown hair like they do, smaller more rounded eyes and a more circular face structure. She is so beautiful and delicate, like a piece of fine china. I held her closer to me and just watched as she looked back at me giggling. After a few minutes of her watching me, she began to cry. Mikoto rushed over to me with a bottle. I held it and Hanabi drank, slowly falling asleep in the process. Everyone left the room for us to be alone. Once she finished eating, she was fully asleep. I laid Hanabi down and crawled next to her, going to sleep myself.

When I woke up, I felt arms around me. I looked in front of me and Hanabi was still sleeping. Shisui was on the other side of Hanabi, sleeping with his arm behind my head. Carefully, I turned around and saw Sasuke sleeping and hugging me from behind. Itachi was sleeping in a chair next to the bed. A warm feeling enveloped me, I am so lucky to have them.

The next week went similar. I wouldn't speak unless its to ask about how to care for Hanabi, every day I would do nothing but take care of her. Each night, I would sleep with Hanabi, and throughout the night they would all join me. The pain was still there, but the distractions and love they provided me with helped me begin to feel. The second week of being there, I had a surprise. When I woke up in the morning, instead of my normal bedmates, I had many more. Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Ino, and Sakura all joined me in my room sleeping in various places. As soon as everyone noticed I was awake, I was bombarded with hugs. The pain began to fade a little bit more, the numbness inside of me was gone. It was at this time that I decided to train again.

I trained harder and more dangerous than ever to fulfill my promise to protect the ones I love. Every night I would return to the Uchiha compound bloody and bruised worse than any of my other training sessions. The physical pain helps with the mental pain. Training was the only time I would be away from Hanabi. After a few weeks of this, I still was silent, but my eyes had some of the gleam return. One day, my father walked through the compound and took us home. He said nothing to me, he couldn't even look at Hanabi. I knew the death was hurting him, but I never thought I would see him so cold to me. When we got home, Neji came up to me and hugged me. He lost his mom at a young age too, so he knows how I feel. I was comforted with his presence and the knowledge that he can understand me. Neji spent the night with Hanabi and I. In the morning, dad walked into my room and woke me up for training. He still didn't acknowledge Hanabi. Neji told me he would care for her while I was gone, so I left for training.

Training with dad became miserable. He would yell and call me pathetic, he would push me to the point of needing a doctor to stay on watch every night. It was like he was purpose pushing me away to hate him. I've never felt so unloved and miserable. Any of the love that used to be in fathers eyes was completely gone. I no longer was aloud to hang out with my friends, the only things I could do were train, make my plans, and care for Hanabi. The only light I had was Hanabi, and my drive for my dream to protect everyone was the only reason I could keep going. I noticed that as long as I kept attention on me and away from Hanabi, father wouldn't try to hurt her. This is how my life went until late August, when it was time to start the Academy.


	6. The noblest of them all

I jumped out of bed and ran over to Hanabi's crib checking to make sure she was still sleeping. I got ready for the day. I brushed my hair out and put it into a high ponytail with my side bangs out framing my face the same way mom used to do it. I looked over some of my bruises, put some healing cream on and wrapped bandages around them. I went into my closet and put on my outfit: A lavender battle kimono with slits on the sides, black spandex shorts, my gloves, ninja sandals, my kunai pouch, and my twin daggers were strapped to my waist. I went and picked up the now awake Hanabi and brought her over to Uncle Hizashi's home for the day. I know I can't leave her home alone with my dad for now. I just hope that one day he will see Hanabi for herself not as what killed mom. I handed off Hanabi to Uncle Hizashi and Neji came out of his room. Linking our arms, we bid goodbye to Uncle and Hanabi and left for the Academy. Finally, I get to see my friends again, it's been months. I hope they cant figure out the problems, I'm not a great liar. Oh Yes! I finally get to meet and befriend Naruto. I started skipping in excitement next to Neji. I looked over and saw his smirk.

"You sure are excited for the Academy, why? It's not like you aren't strong enough to graduate already."

"Niisan, I finally get to see my friends and make new ones, plus it's my pathway to becoming a real shinobi, how can I not be excited!" Neji rolled his eyes, but his face darkened at the mention of my friends. He is the only one who knows about my issues at home.

"It is your destiny to be the best kunoichi, not a shinobi. Only men are shinobi, you know this so stop playing ignorant." I pouted. Why does he talk so fancy and princely when he is barely older than me. It's so annoying because he makes me look dumb when he's not even trying.

"I know, I just don't understand why there is a difference." Neji chuckled at my annoyance.

"Save that for your teachers. Little miss, I act like a boy." We arrived at the academy and Neji gave me a quick hug, apologized for not being able to attend my introduction ceremony, and headed off to his class. I walked over to the group of kids my age looking for a familiar face. I saw all of the kids with families smiling and happy ready to support their kids, and my heart clenched in pain. Mom is gone and dad is so different, he wont even come to my ceremony. I stood off to the side of all the other kids when my eyes were covered.

"Guess who?" A familiar voice giggled. I snapped around and hugged my blonde friend tightly.

"Ino I missed you so much." Ino giggled at my 'girly' affections. She hugged me back just as tight.

"Hinata I missed you too, why'd you disappear like that?" I looked between her and her parents, I noticed Inoichi's eyes watching my reaction intently. I blushed and looked away sheepishly.

"Uh, heh, sorry about that I was just dealing with some stuff with my mom and Hanabi ya know."

"Oh yeah sorry. Oh well, at least we're together now!" She shouted, giving me another quick hug. I looked up toward Inoichi and he was eying me with suspicion. I pretended not to notice. Ino and I talked for a good minute before Shikamaru strolled up to us, hands in his pockets looking up to the sky. I smiled at his lazy attempt at pretending to act like he didn't care, his eyes gave it away, when he looked at me, they were filled with happiness, love, worry, and relief. I walked up to him and gave him a hug, which he returned albeit unwilling.

"Troublesome girl, Ino was worried and talked my ear off when you disappeared." I knew that was Shikamaru speak for him missing me, and by the smirk on Shikaku's face, he knew too.

"I missed you too Shika. Maybe now we can play shoji again, if I remember correctly, I still have more wins." I said giving him a cheeky smile. He returned it with a lazy smirk and a mumble of 'troublesome'. I looked at Shikaku and Yoshino and gave them a slight bow in greeting. I payed close attention to Shikaku, he was watching me as close as Inoichi. It was unnerving, I knew they would figure it out sometime, I hope I can hold off their suspicion for longer so I can solve the issues with my father without outside involvement. Shikaku studied me intently, whispered to Inoichi, then spoke.

"Hinata-san, where is Hiashi-sama? Surely you didn't come alone." He asked with a knowing tone. Damn him and Inoichi and their genius, they know already. I grabbed my wrist that was covered in bandages, that action didn't go unnoticed by them and Shikamaru, who grabbed my hand in reassurance.

"Oh yeah, Otousan said he was too busy and sadly couldn't make it today!" I said putting on a cheerful act. It fooled everyone except the people I needed it to. Shikaku hummed in understanding and exchanged glances with Inoichi. Choji came around and gave me a big hug, even going to share a chip with me. Even with the addition of Choji, the parents focus was on me. I saw Kiba, his mom, and his genin sister Hana so I called them over to take the attention off of myself. Kiba's boisterous personality worked wonders and he drew all of the attention on himself and his taunting of me for hiding out afraid of sparring him. I laughed along with him, his loud presence helped me calm down some. While we all conversed, waiting to be invited in, I saw the people I was hoping to avoid for now. I tried to look away, but Itachi's eyes caught mine.

I excused myself and went over to them bracing myself for the hug Mikoto would give me. Instead of a hug, I was greeted with a tense atmosphere from everyone except Sasuke.

I exchanged greetings with everyone and tried to figure out why everything was so tense. Oh shit, I forgot, this is when Itachi disobeyed his mission from Fugaku to get into the Anbu to attend Sasuke's entrance ceremony. That means its time to start putting my plans into action to protect Shisui. I should still have almost 2 years before Shisui's death, because the massacre doesn't happen until Sasuke is 8, he is six now, but I need to pay closer attention now. They all gave me a once over and Mikoto grasped my hands.

"Hinata-chan, what happened to you. Why are you covered in bandages? Why have you been locked up in your compound?" She spoke in her motherly worried tone.

"It's nothing, just some training accidents. I've also been helping father take care of Hanabi-chan since mom isn't there this time." Mikoto's eyes darkened in sadness before she pulled me into a hug. It was nice and warm, I haven't felt a hug like this in a while. I enjoyed he embrace until I felt eyes blaring into me. I looked at Itachi and noticed his sharingan and him frowning. He gave me a look that said, 'we'll talk later'.

I finally turned my attention to Sasuke, who looked so happy to have his family with him to start the academy. He bounced over to me a huge grin on his face.

"Hey freak, are you excited? I am, I'm going to be the top student in class like Aniki was. I've been training a lot and I'm probably the strongest kid in our year." I grinned at the obvious jab.

"Duckbutt, do I need to kick your ass again to make you remember, I'm the strongest in our year?" I smirked in triumph as he glared/pouted at me. A chunin teacher came out of the building and began to have us gather to start the ceremony. Thankfully nobody asked where my father was again. All of my friends and their families joined me in the ceremony and we sat and listened together. The ceremony was basically congradulating us on taking our steps in our shinobi journey and informing us what is to come. I looked around to all of the students in my year and recognized Ami and Shino. I didn't bother looking for Naruto since I knew he has already been in the academy for a year, since the Hokage let him join early. I brought my attention back to the ceremony as the chunin, Aoi i think was his name, brought the introduction to a close. Then, to my surprise, the Hokage came out. Lord 3d looked exactly like I thought he would, old but kind. He welcomed us and began to announce the classes. Not surprisingly I was placed with all of the rookie 9, and Ami sadly. Sasuke smirked at me as we were announced in the same class, Ino and Sakura cheered, Kiba and I high-fived, Choji hugged me, and Shika rolled his eyes telling me how troublesome it was before throwing his arm around me in a lazy embrace. How right Shika is though, this will be troublesome but oh so fun!

After the ceremony ended, the parents were forced out and all of us students got to meet our teachers. Iruka was way younger looking than I expected, he looked to be about 18. I don't know why I thought he would be older, I just did. He was wearing a typical chunin outfit, navy blue ninja pants and a navy blue long sleeved shirt, and the infamous ugly green chunin vest zipped up. He gave all of us a smile and we followed him into classroom 237. I walked into the classroom and immediately sat in the far back right corner. Sasuke came to sit next to me and all hell broke loose. All of the girls were surrounding him trying to get the seat next to him, most of them didn't even know his first name, they all called him Uchiha-kun. A few even had the nerve to tell me to move so they could sit next to him, but with Sasuke and I's combined glares they left me alone. Ino and Sakura were not part of the mob, but I could see the hearts in their eyes and the twitch to want to come sit by Sasuke. Sasuke looked freaked out, since he's not so brooding, he looked more terrified than anything whcih made me laugh until I was crying. I looked around at the other seats around me Shikamaru sat in front of me, Choji and Ino next to him, Sakura sat in the row next to Ino with Shino beside her. Kiba was in the row next to Sasuke and I. A few other boys were scattered around, I still couldn't see Naruto though. He is either late or he will join the class later in the year. Finally, Iruka-sensei got fed up with the fangirl screeching and made them sit down. None of the girls got to sit by Sasuke, instead he left it open for the late student. I could clearly see the disdain Iruka-sensei had when he said 'late student'. Yay, Naruto will be in my class. Sasuke stiffened at the thought of another person sitting next to him, so we switched seats.

Iruka-sensei introduced himself to us and told us a bit about the next few years and how we should all work hard and be friends blah blah blah. I was ready to follow in Shikamaru's footsteps and go to sleep when the classroom door slammed open. I held my breath, only one person would enter the classroom like that. I knew I was right when mess of gold and orange came tumbling into the classroom. I inwardly laughed in amusement, and began to fangirl. Oh my gosh he's adorable. Naruto stood up and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry I was late…" He began, but Iruka-sensei cut him off.

'Uzumaki, you're LATE! I don't care to hear any excuses brat. Go sit up by Hyuuga-san, it's the only empty seat left." Iruka-sensei basically shouted in annoyance with Naruto, his uncomfort with the boy was obvious. As soon as Naruto began to head my direction, I heard the whispers of the kids around us.

"Hey thats the boy my mom said to stay away from"

"Yeah I heard he's a demon"

"Ugh he's such a freak" Naruto's face immediately looked crestfallen as he heard the whispers and saw the glares pointed at him. I clenched my fist in anger, holding myself from attacking the assholes around me. They are so cruel to him and don't even know him. Sasuke and Shikamaru both took notice of my anger and sent me comforting and confused glances. I took in a few deep breaths and Naruto sat beside me. He kept his head down and wouldn't look at me. It's crazy to think that this shy boy grows up to be THE loudmouth Naruto Uzumaki. It hurt to see such hurt on his face, I know the pain of alienation and being alone so well. I reached my hand out and tapped Naruto on the shoulder. He looked up at me with a mix between a glare and fear. Brushing it off, I gave him the brightest smile I could. I heard gasps around me but ignored them. Naruto looked shocked at my expression, then he looked behind him, and back to me. I stuck my hand out to him, not paying attention to Iruka-sensei's introduction speech any longer.

"Hey, I'm Hinata, whats your name blondie?" I asked. HE yet again looked shocked and confused at my kindness in speaking to him.

"A-Are you asking m-me?" He asked nervously twiddling his fingers. I deadpanned and withdrew my hand, I know he's ignored and hated but geez cant he tell I'm trying to talk to him.

"Yeah dumbass, I am talking to you, whats your name?" He seemed to glower at my name calling, then brightened when he noticed I was just playing with him.

"Oh, I'm Naruto Uzumaki dattebayo! And Hey! I'm notta dumbass you weird eyed girl, Imma genius dattebayo!" He said pointing his thumb at his chest. I had to contain myself from squealing in excitement at his verbal tic. I've been waiting for this for so long!

"I'm just going to ignore the comment about my eyes. Nice to meetcha Naruto, I can see we're gonna be great friends." Forgetting his fake anger at my name calling, he seemed to shut down when I mentioned friends.

"You really want to be friends with me?" He asked with child like hope gleaming in his cerulean eyes.

"No shit sherlock, thats what I just said. You and I are friends now duh." I said to him. He looked like he was going to cry, but instead he jumped up in joy, fist pumping the air as I laughed at his actions.

"YATTA! I have a friend, even if she has weird eyes dattebayo!" It was then, we noticed everyone staring at us dead silent, mot of them looking at me in disbelief and thinking I'm crazy. Naruto looked uncomfortable again and quickly sat down. I glared at anyone who decided to give him mean looks.

"Uzumaki, since you decided to interrupt our class, you can be the first to introduce yourself to the class." Iruka-sensei said annoyed. Wow put the kid on the spot like that, dick move. I know he gets better, but it pisses me off. Naruto looked nervous and before he could start, I stood up.

"Hold the fuck up, I was the one who caused the commotion, I made Naruto shout, I should be the one having to go first not him. So stop picking on him like that, I thought you would be more mature then the dim witted assholes who treat Naruto like crap, Iruka-_sensei_." I sneered, using the intimidating techniques I've learned form my father and Fugaku. Everyone looked taken aback by the perfect Hyuuga princess using such disrespect and foul language. My friends looked at me in understanding, they know I don't like bullies. Naruto looked at me in happiness. Iruka-sensei's expression turned from shock to shame. He looked at us then nodded.

"If that is what you wish, I apologize for the misunderstanding Uzumaki-san. Hyuuga-san, since you cause the commotion, you will begin the introductions to the class." I nodded in acceptance and smirked at my win.

"Wassup, I'm Hinata Hyuuga I'm 5, turning 6 in December and I'm heir to the Hyuuga clan. I like my friends and family, shoji, making up music, making people uncomfortable, proving people wrong, and training. I dislike bullies, losing, failing, the stigma that women will always be weaker than men, situations that make peoples lives suck, and the hellspawn know as tea-ceremonies." Ino, Kiba, Choji, and Sakura snickered while Shika and Sasuke rolled their eyes. "My hobbies are like my likes, and my dream is for me to knwo and you to hopefully never find out." I ended with a cheeky smirk and a bow, before plopping back into my seat. Sasuke went next, he didn't say much, except how he wants to beat his brother, but it was sweet compared to the brooding kid he is in the anime, he even said he liked me well indirectly but still. Then came Nartuo.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki dattebayo! I'm 5 and gonna 6. I like ramen of all kinds and my weird new friend Hinata-chan. I don't like waiting for my ramen to cook and I don't like reading or writing. My hobbies are pranks. My dream is to be the greatest Hokage then people will stop being mean and have to respect me dattebayo!" I almost freaked out hearing the famous words, but I contained it to a huge smile and gave Naruto a fist bump. Just to piss him off during the other introductons, since they mainly revolved around Sasuke for the girls, I whispered into Naruto's ear.

"Maybe I'm going to be Hokage, or duckbutt over there, what then blondie?" I taunted with a smirk as I watched him get annoyed, there is the Naruto I know and love.

"No way, I'm gonna be Hokage dattebayo. You guys are my rivals now and I wont lose."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, I don't want to be your rival, I already have one and he doesn't like sharing."

"I don't care, you are still my rival, along with Sasuke-teme, if he really is strong." to which Sasuke put in a 'Hn, dobe' but Naruto didn't hear him. I did though and smirked at Sasuke. And so it begins, the rivalry of the ages.

For the rest of class, we had introductions and got our school books. When the day was over, we all left the school and I waited, having hope that dad would pick me up. I saw everyone leave with heir parents except Naruto and I. I gave up on waiting and began to walk to the Uchiha compound instead of going home. I should probably talk to Itachi and say hi to Shisui-nii if he is home from his mission. On the walk to the compound, I noticed the small chakra's following me. I decided to ignore it since they couldn't do any real physical damage. I stopped and was roughly thrown to the ground. I looked up to see one of the boys from my class, Diachi, and a few older boys with genin headbands on, one of them was a Hyuuuga branch member. They all gave me sickening grins.

"So you're the supposed Hyuuga prodigy. How lame, you got thrown to the ground so easily." The Hyuuga, I think his name is Ren, scoffed at me. Not in the mood, I just looked at him blandly which seemed to infuriate him. He threw a kick to my side and I just grinned at him.

"Is that all you got?" I asked. Then the other boys decided to join in.

"You freak, look at your eyes, so many think they are so pretty, but to me you look like an ugly freak." I just deadpanned at the new boy speaking.

"You know, your friend has the same eyes right?" I asked like he was an idiot. That just made them lose all temperament. RIght as a kick was swing at me, a flash of blonde jumped in front.

"Hey you jerks, leave Hinata-chan alone, if anyone gets to fight and insult her it's me." Instead of listening, a punch was thrown by Ren knocking Naruto to the ground with blood dripping down his chin. At the same time, the other older boy stepped on my bandaged injuries from my father. Since they were fresh, I winced and he smirked in triumph. Finally Diachi spoke up.

"I told you she was friends with the demon. We should take them both out." I stood up, shoving the boy off of my leg, and growled at them.

"You can pick on me all they want but nobody hurts my friends in front of me." Just as I was about to activate my Byakugan and end their shinobi careers, Shisui flashed in front of me. I could tell by the way the boys cowered, he had his Sharingan activated.

"Lay one more finger on my little sister and her friend and you will all be executed by my hand. You do realize that she is the Hyuuga heir, and tightly in the Uchiha head family. You have no power over her and will be taken down in an instant. So to save your imbicyllic ways, leave now before I make you." Like frightened kittens, they all scurried off pushing one another. Shisui turned around and looked me up and down frowning. Instead of saying anything, I jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly. His frown was replaced with a huge smile at me.

"Imouto, always getting yourself into trouble with boys bigger than you." He chucked.

"Whatever Shisui-nii, you know I can take them. Anyways, I didn't need you since blondie decided to save me." Shisui put me down and turned his gaze to Naruto. Naruto flinched waiting for the beating or hate but it never came, instead Shisui smiled at him and thanked Naruto for coming to protect me. Naruto was overjoyed and began to brag about how he would never let his rival and friend get hurt by anyone. Accepting his response, Shisui deemed him safe to be left alone with and flashed back to bug his 'precious 'tachi-chan'. When he was gone, I put my full attention back to Naruto.

"Thanks for jumping in to save me. You're gonna be a good hero someday."

"I know! I'm going to be the best hero dattebayo! Why were they picking on you?"

"I don"t know." I lied, no way was I gonna say its because of him.

"It's the same with the villagers, they pick on me and stare at me with those eyes, but I don't know why." He said sadly. I ran up and hugged him.

"Don't listen to them. I like you already, they are just so wrong about everything." His megawatt smile returned.

"Yeah! Don't listen to those guys either, your eyes are pretty, I mean they are weird and kind of scary, but it doesn't make you ugly dattebayo!" I laughed at his attempt to reassure me of my eyes being cool.

"I can make my eyes more freaky, wanna see?" Naruto nodded enthusiastically and stared in fascination as I turned on my Byakugan. I looked at Naruto and damn, he really does have massive chakra reserves that swirl inside of him like a whirlpool. I could see the fight between the blue and red chakra, the blue winning, but still thrashing around. No wonder he has terrible control, his chakra is erratic with his massive reserves. Mine is easy to control even at its large size for my age because it flows, not calm, more like a buzzing, but still flowing naturally. I am going help him and make him stronger before we reach genin. I shut off the Byakugan and told Naruto that over ramen tomorrow, I can tell him about it. He was so excited he ran off to go tell his 'jiji'.

When he was gone, I finished my journey to the Uchiha compound and right at I stepped in the front door, I was whisked inside and thrown on the couch.

I blinked and tried to stand back up from the sudden assault, but I was held down. I looked at my captor and saw the unusually serious face of Shisui. I looked back in front of me and Mikoto, Itachi, and Fugaku were giving me the same serious (even more so than usual for Fugaku) expression. Sasuke was out training alone and I knew this would be coming when he was out of the house. I was just hoping they wouldn't have truly found out so soon. I knew Mikoto would know right away, she was one of the strongest Jounin kunoichi's for a reason and a mother, but I was hoping everyone else would just think it was from training. Shisui's training left me battered too, but maybe because I never covered those, they suspected something. I squirmed around to get out of Shisui's grip and away from prying eyes, but he just tightened his hold to the point, I knew I can't get out. Surprisingly, it was Fugaku who spoke up first.

"Who?" I looked at him and feigned confusion.

"Who what Fugaku-sama?"

"Who did this to you?" He spoke in a low tone that was so cold and filled with so much anger, I shivered.

"I don't know what you are talking about?" I said, my voice cracking. It was then, Shisui spoke up, his tone was sad and slow, trying to not provoke me but emphasizing his seriousness. When he is that serious, I know there isn't much I can do to get out of it, i can sure try though.

"Damn it Imouto, who is giving you all of those bruises," I opened my mouth to speak, but Shisui continued speaking, "and don't you dare say they are from training, I am not stupid." I sighed at how he could read me so well. I looked down, away from everyones eyes and spoke mainly to myself in a hushed whisper.

"I can't. No, it's not is fault." Mikoto grabbed my hands with one of her own in a warm yet firm grip, using the other hand, she made me look her in the eyes. I could feel the tears falling from my eyes, and the ones glistening in hers.

"Hinata-chan, I know the signs of abuse, and from what I have gathered, your father is the one doing this isn't he? I know you don't blame him, but you need to think about your own safety and do something." She pulled me out of Shisui's lap and into her own, sitting us on the floor. I held on to her tightly and cried, finally letting out the truth I have been dealing with for the past 6 months alone.

"I can't, I have to protect my Hanabi. Otousan is so sad without mom, Hanabi looks just like her, he blames her. If I don't distract him and make him put his sadness on me, he will hurt her instead. She's a baby, I can't do that." I heard a sharp intake of breath from where Fugaku and Itachi were. I looked up, and both of their Sharingans were flaring dangerously, I looked back and Shisui's was the same. Itachi let out a low growl.

"I'm going to kill him." I jumped out of Mikoto's lap and grabbed Itachi's hand tightly, when he looked at me, I flinched from the intensity of his Sharingan, I understand now why people are so afraid of it.

"No, you can't! He's my dad and I love him. He will come around sometime, please. I will do anything, just don't hurt him." I pleaded, my voice shaking in fear for my father. When they all finally realized that I was just a scared little girl, their Sharingans faded.

"You will bring Hanabi and you will both be staying here until there is no threat to you. You are my future daughter and so I will be taking this into my own hands, along with the Hokage and the other clan heads who figured it out. It will be kept discreet and Sasuke will not know, but this has to be solved and for a clan head to be in this situation, other clan heads have to be involved. I will not harm your father, on that you have my word." Fugaku spoke with finality and all I could do was nod in acceptance. This will be good I hope, I can finally escape with Hanabi until father is relieved of his grief and can think straight again, then we can be a real family.

After a few minutes sitting in silence, Itachi held me to his chest and walked out the front door, Shisui in tow. We made it to my clan's compound and Itachi and I quickly made our way into my room while Shisui went to get Hanabi from Uncle Hizashi's and gave Neji a note on what is going on. I packed some of my books and a few other necessities in a bag. I also packed all of what I could for Hanabi. We left as quick as we could, to not meet my father, I don't think I could face him right now. I know what he's doing is wrong, but he is just sad and us leaving will make him more alone. But, for the sake of Hanabi and my fathers life, I will let everyone else talk sense into him. As much as I want to fix things, I'm still a kid and can't fix something like this when I have no clue where to even start. Having the head of them police force and the parents of my friends will hopefully be the solution I need.

On the way back to the Uchiha compound, the tension was thick in the air. It was uncomfortable for all of us until, Shisui being the awesome person he is, grabbed Itachi's small ponytail and yanked it back. Itachi put on his infamous glare.

"I am going to kill you Shisui." He grit out. Shisui responded with a cheeky shit-eating grin and began to mercilessly tease Itachi. I couldn't hold it in anymore and began to laugh so hard tears were coming out of my eyes. I only laughed harder when Hanabi was giggling along with me. Stoping their verbal fights, I still will never understand how Shisui gets the quiet and wordless Itachi to speak so much, they both turned to me and smiled, happy to see me laughing again. I saw the glint in Shisui's eyes.

"Fuck you Shisui-nii, you totally played me to get me to laugh, and you 'tachi, you went along with it. I thought you loved me." I fake accused, trying and failing to hide my smile. My smile vanished when Shisui smacked my head, hard, and Itachi poked my forehead.

"Imouto, language, even for a she-male like you, it is not ladylike pr appropriate for a kid. What kind of brother would I be if I let you continue your foul mouth?" Shisui stated with pride. I rubbed my head from the pain.

"The best kind" I mumbled out.

"Hinata-hime, we did it to make you smile. I don't like when you frown." Itachi stated in the kind yet semi-monotone voice of his. I gave up my pouting and smiled up at them.

"I know. Thanks guys I really appreciate it." We finally made it back to the compound and when we made it inside, Sasuke was standing at the door waiting. He rushed to his brother, trying to remain calm but failing, and gave him a hug.

"Aniki, Shisui! Today was AWESOME!" He proceeded to tell Itachi and Shisui all about his entire day. Itachi had a small smile and listened happily while Shisui gibbered along with Sasuke. After 10 minutes of talking to his 'Aniki', Sasuke finally realized he had company. He turned to me with confusion in his eyes.

"Freak, what are you doing here with Hanabi?" Yes, my nickname has been shortened to Freak, but I don't mind because it's not being used as a real insult from him.

"I'm going to be staying here for a while duckbutt!" I said waiting to see his reaction. Instead of an insult or groan like I was expecting, he smiled and ran up to me, taking Hanabi out of my arms and cooing at her.

"Thats so cool, we can spar all of the time, and I get to play with Hanabi-chan again, and we can go to school together and show everyone whose boss, and we can play house because Aniki never wants to, and you can share a room with me!." He was so excited to hang out with me. I smiled brightly and fist pumped, shouting a "yeah!"

After dinner, it was late and Sasuke and I were both fading, our eyes droopy. Mikoto scooped us both up and brought us to the bathroom. She let each of us shower quickly and brush our teeth. Putting on our night clothes, she led us both to Itachi's room. There were three futons rolled out on the floor since Sasuke wanted us all to have a sleepover. Hanabi was sleeping with Mikoto and Fugaku so I finally laid down to go to bed. Too tired to do any planning, I crawled into the middle futon and began to fall asleep. Sasuke whispered a goodnight and fell asleep with me. I was sleep too deep to notice Itachi come in an hour later. He smiled a warm yet sad smile at both of us, Sasuke who slid over and was not holding me close. He kissed our foreheads and slid into the futon next to me, holding Sasuke and I like he was afraid he would lose us, and drifted off to sleep.

The few months or so went similar, except, now that I don't have to worry about my sis and father as much, I spent more time on my planning for the future, specifically the Uchiha Massacre. Making sure I have every detail I can remember, and to make sure I couldn't be caught, I wrote in English instead of Japanese. The best thing about being mixed in my old life was working out now, I'm fluent in both languages and that gives me an advantage because nobody will be able to figure out what I write and say in English unless I teach them, thank Kami for English being the most obnoxious and confusing language. Every night when Itachi and Sasuke would fall asleep, I would slide out of their grasps and work on my planning. I would go to bed right before they would wake up. Getting little to no sleep sucks, but it will hopefully be worth it in the wrong run. Even after a year of planning, I still don't know what to do or how to do it, but somehow, someway I will do something.

The Academy was also interesting. I got to be around my friends every day and that was fun, Naruto and I have a stronger bond now, even though we have a one sided rivalry, the most surprising thing was Kunoichi classes.

After about a month of regular schooling, mainly learning basics of reading, writing, history, and math, we finally began to get into the good ninja stuff. During the last quarter of the day, Iruka-sensei had the boys and girls split up. Us girls were sent to a field. When we got there, there was an old lady standing straight as a board. She was skinny, wearing a heavily decorated kimono, her hair was grey and pulled into a super tight bun, and she had a wrinkly and stern yet extremely beautiful face. The aura around her was regal and full of power. We all stopped befrore her, watching as she assessed us with her brown eyes.

"I am Sieko Oda, you will call me Lady Sieko. I am going to be this academy generations instructor on the feminine side of being a Kunoichi. First we will go over what it means to be a Kunoichi, then what it means to be a lady, and on your last year on the art of seduction. You will learn how to be the perfect woman and the perfect Kunoichi, many of you have been taught about being a lady from one of the best, Mikoto Uchiha, but here, we will be going more indepth. I will teach you how to be graceful yet deadly. I will not be treating you like children so do not act like children. If you cannot handle what I throw at you, you must quit. I do not want anything less than perfection, yet many of you will fail. You will speak when spoken to and I do not want whining or complaining, am I clear."

"Yes Lady Sieko" We all replied. Damn, this is Kunoichi class, this lady is hardcore. I don't know whether I should like her, hate her, or fear her. Probably the ladder. This will definitely be my most difficult class. I am not graceful or anything close to a lady. The only thing I am excited for is the last year. I mean since I was a teen when I died, I knew what seduction was. It's an easy way to make people flustered an uncomfortable, my favorite pass time. That will be fun to learn the actual art too it, I can't wait!

"For the beginning of every class, you will sit properly and meditate until you can find your chakra. Once everyone has completed this task, you will learn how to control your chakra. Sit and I will assess your posture. You fix what I say and do not speak back to me." She said in a demanding and fierce tone. Yep, I am officially scared shitless of this woman who seems to be perfect. Following her orders, I sat down in the way Mikoto and my mother trained me. Back uncomfortably straight, sitting on my heels, my head held level, and my hands in my lap. The only thing different is that I have my hands palm up and fingers laced together in my meditating pose. Sitting this way for the first two years was killer, but after a while, it feels normal. I still like my slouched indian style better, but this still works for meditation. I watched other the other girls watch me sit and did their best to follow suit. I could tell who had been trained and who hadn't. Sadly Ami was sitting like a perfect lady, her's was as good as mine, Ino's, and Sakura's. From what I could tell, we were the best at this of the other 10 girls here. Lady Sieko came around and harshly fixed all of the postures, I could hear some of the girls cry out from the pain that comes from sitting like this. When she walked by me, she gave me a pleased nod. When she stopped by Ami, she stopped.

"Everyone stop and look over here. Ami is a perfect example of how you should look, this is a proper lady. Your goal will be to sit like her. Go back to your sitting." Ami had the most smug smirk on and shot it towards us. Sakura and Ino glared back while I ignored her completely. After 20 minuted of boring sitting, Seiko finally let us meditate. She described the feeling of chakra, how to get to it, and how to hold it. Since our chakra coils are more developed now, it will be easier for them to find and fully unlock their chakra than it was for me. I closed my eyes to meditate and instantly felt the buzz of my chakra flowing inside and around me. I am not a true sensor ninja, but with my Hyuuga bloodline and sensitivity to chakra, I could feel the chakra of the others around me. Each had their won characteristics that matched the person, and I could feel the amount of chakra. I can only really do this when meditating or I can see it with my Byakugan. Ino had the most chakra of the other girls our age. Most of the other girls had small amounts like Sakura, probably because they were civilian born or had no important clans. Lady Seiko's chakra was impressive, that of a high Chunin like my own. I opened my eyes and looked at Lady Seiko, she basically floated over to me.

"You are Hinata Hyuuga, the Princess and prodigy of the clan." I nodded a yes, no way am I talking out of turn, she scares me. "It took you longer than I though for you to find your chakra, why is that. I know you can use it already."

"I can access my chakra instantly, I was assessing the other girls chakras."

"What did you find?"

"I know Ino can use her chakra, it takes her a bit to find it but hers is stronger than the others from her clan training she is starting. The other girls either come from minor clans or are civilian born from their small amounts of chakra. Sakura, the pink haired girl, seems to have chakra control and has just unlocked her chakra." She stared down at me, then looked to the other girls, and back. She gave me another nod in approval. Only Ino, Sakura, and I had access to our chakra by the end of class.

The next two weeks of class went similar. Finally, all of the girls unlocked their Chakra. Lady Seiko then explained about how important it is for females to control our Chakra. To learn control, we had to place leaves on our foreheads and hold it there for an hour before we could move on to the next step in Kunoichi classes. Sakura and I got it immediately, Ino, Ami, and Rika were next. After 1 month of this we finally got to move on.

_Timeskip (They are all 7 now, some of them truning 8 soon)_

**Sakura and Ino**

At the end of class one day, Sakura came running up to Ino and I.

"Guess what, I'm officially in love." Sakura hummed blushing. No way this can't be happening right now. I've noticed how much more intense everyone's obsession for Sasuke has become. Ino and Sakura don't fangirl, but I can see the jealousy they harbor for me since they know about the partial engagement and how I live with him. I always tell them that they can have him, but the just give me annoyed glances at that. I was hoping that since I was here, they wouldn't fight, but I guess I'm going to be wrong about that.

"Who is it Sakura-chan?" Ino asked. Sakura glanced at me, the back to Ino.

"Sasuke-kun, eep, he helped me answer a question today when I asked." She squealed. Damn it, this is when the become rivals and the worst type of fangirl. Ino shot up.

"No way, Sasuke-kun is mine." Ino shouted to Sakura. Done with this, I stood between them.

"What the hell is going on with you two. Sasuke is just a boy no need to fight."

"Thats because you want him for yourself. From now on, we are not friends, we are rivals." They said at the same time. I huffed

"I'm not apart of this." I said full of annoyance.

"Of course you're not, as Rivals, forehead and I have to take Sasuke-kun from you, you don't deserve him, you don't even work for his love like we have to you tomboy." Ino said snootily.

"Yeah, Ino-pig is right, Sasuke-kun won't love a tomboy loser like you, he wants a lady that he can protect like me. You guys will never get married." Sakura said to me, her eyes glaring daggers at me.

"Is this really how our friendship is going to end? Because you both want the same boy as everyone else."

"Yes, we don't like you, I just wanted to get to Sasuke-kun but that didn't work, so I will finally do what you can't, show him love from a real girl."

"Yeah, loser!" Ino and Sakura said to me. Those words hurt my chest, I could feel the burn in my eyes from trying to hold back tears. There is no way, we were friends, they are really willing to throw all of that away for their growing desire of a boy.

"If thats how you really feel, I'll leave." I said, I got no response just some glares with a hint of regret in them. I jumped in the nearest tree and sped off, the tears freely falling down. I can't believe my only girl friends would be so jealous of my friendship with Sasuke, that they were willing to hurt me so bad with their words. I try to not let stuff like that get to me, I know I'm not a great girl and wont be the perfect lady, but for them to say it, really hurts. I jumped down from the trees into a clearing right on the outskirts of the village and began to cry.

After a few minutes of crying, my sadness turned into anger and I couldn't hold it in anymore. I began running to train more reckless than usual. I took my gloves off and hit the largest tree I could find over and over, not adding chakra. I could feel the blood dripping down my hands, and the splinters of wood pushing deeper and deeper into my knuckles. Ignoring the stinging, I continued to punch and kick, screaming out in anguish. First I die, then my dies mom, then dad becomes so hurt, and now my only female friends are gone. For each thing I was hurting about, I added more force into my attacks. I hit everything in my sight for hours, my mind was so clouded with emotions I didn't notice the figure entering the clearing until they were right behind me. I turned around to hit them, when a wall of bugs protected the figure from my wild attack. Glad i didn't accidentally hurt the person, I finally let my self slump to the ground exhausted.

**Shino**

"Hinata-san." A monotone boy voice stated.

"S-Shino-san?" I breathed out confused at his appearance. This will finally be my chance to befriend him. I looked into his glasses and he nodded.

"I am surprised you know who I am. Why, nobody knows who I am even when we are classmates." He said in his weird but adorkable speech pattern.

"I know who you are, I've always known. I'm sorry for not speaking to you sooner."

"You never have time. Why, I've noticed your friends always steal your attention."

"Yeah, so uh, why are you here?" I asked, trying to figure out what the hell he's doing. I still couldn't see his face with his large coat and glasses, so I couldn't gage what he's thinking.

"I was searching for new bugs. Why, I am interested in rare species and they are normally being born at this time but instead of bugs, I heard you yelling and I came over to you. You took your gloves fro reasons I am not sure. The result is your hands are now mangled and bleeding. Follow me and we will clean your hands." I stood up and wobbled a bit from exhaustion. Steading myself, I followed Shino to the nearby stream. I kneeled and placed my hand in the water, hissing from the stinging of the water against my bloody knuckles. We watched in silence as the blood from my hands stained the water red as it flowed down. After all of the blood was off, silently, Shino took my hands and a few bugs crawled out taking all of the splinters out of my hands. I looked away, I don't hate bugs, but I don't want them in my cuts. In a few minutes, I felt Shino taking something soft and gauzy and wrapping it around my hands. I watched as he meticulously wrapped my hands in white medical gauze. He tied the wrappings off and stood up, walking away without saying anything. Right before he disappeared, I yelled out a thank you. Without even really knowing me and making me talking about my issues, Shino was kind enough to just help me. He made me feel better and I don't know if he was even trying to. I still felt my heart aching for my lost friends, but I also felt a bit better because I gained a new one even if he doesn't know it yet.

**Shisui**

I went back to the compound, and instead of sleeping where I normally would because I couldn't see Sasuke right now, I informed Mikoto briefly of the situation and she allowed me to go stay with Shisui. So now, I get to stay with my big bro, who was overly ecstatic to have a house companion. When I told shisui about the incident, he gave me a hug and made me laugh by telling about his missions and how easy it is to annoy Itachi. The best was when he told Itachi he would make a good girl because his hair and features were so delicate when he was younger. Shisui also taught me how to make dango, which ended up with us just going to buy some. I don't think his kitchen will ever recover from our hurricane of batter. Note to self: Shisui has no idea how to cook anything. After constant begging, I begrudgingly let Shisui dress me because he used puppy dog eyes and said I am his "Precious Imouto."

"Please, please, please, please my precious Imouto let me dress you up." Shisui begged, sitting on top of my stomach so I couldn't move away from him. Even if I got away, he's still too fast to actually escape.

"Hell no, you're going to make me look like a clown or a bimbo."

"I promise I won't do either of those things. I promise I will love you forever and ever, and I will tell you 'Tachi-chan's most embarrassing moment." I saw the glint in his eye, he knew he had me on the last condition. We exchanged mischievous grins.

"Fine I accept, I can't wait to know what the perfect 'Tachi has to be embarrassed about." Right then, Shisui blindfolded me, I promised not to cheat with my Byakugan, and led me somewhere. From the chatting of the people, I deduced that I'm in the civilian area of town. Shisui led me into a store and told the clerk that I promised to let him dress me. The lady squealed saying how cool of a big brother he is. I rolled my eyes at that. After a bit of being led around the store and whispering between Shisui and the lady, I heard the door shut. The lady began to speak to me and told me she would help dress me. I could feel the soft fabrics being put on me and tied up. I could also feel the shoes go on my feet, and from the feel they were small heels or something. I honestly have no idea what I'm wearing, I cant even fathom what Shisui would be so excited to dress me in. The lady began to do my hair and I could feel her place it into high pigtails. I was led out of the door and I could hear a bunch of 'awes' from around me. Shisui let out the most dorky squeal I've ever heard come from a teenage boy.

"Oh my gosh Imouto you are so cuteeee." He took the blindfold off and I was in the forest. I looked in the mirror he provided for me. My jaw dropped to the ground and my eyes were wide. My hair was in really childish pigtails with pink bows, it worked since Im a kid but still. I was wearing a poofy light pink doll dress with black ribbons on the bodice. I looked like a freaking barbie princess. I had knee high pink socks on and little black heels. I cringed at the terrible choice in clothing. I didn't even know they had this type of clothing here. I turned to Shisui glaring, I knew it wasn't working with my look but I tried. He just smiled bigger.

"What the hell Shisui-nii, why do I look like a Unicorn puked pink all over me?" Ignoring not understanding what a unicorn was, Shisui just shrugged.

"I can't wait 'til everyone else gets to see you, you look like a doll. I finally get to see you be a super girly hime!"

"Nobody else is seeing this, I'd lose all of my street credit and don't forget that I'd never hear the end of it from the guys. Please Shisui-nii, give me my clothes so I can change back." Shisui smiled a smile I was beginning to fear, he only gives Itachi those smiles.

"Oh it's too late for all of that." He said before pointing behind me. I spun around quickly and almost had a heart attack. Standing there were the people I did not want to see me like this, some of my friends. Mikoto was taking pictures, Itachi was staring wide eyes, Sasuke had a faint blush, Kiba was laughing his ass off, Neji had a smug look on his face, Shika had a smirk, Naruto was gaping like a fish, and Choji had a small smile.

"Hinata-hime you should never let shisui dress you again." Neji deadpanned. At least he's on my side.

"You look like a freaking princess hahhahaha. I bet you hate this hahaha, I'm never going to let you live this down. Big Bad Hinata reduced to such a little girl" Kiba laughed out and wouldn't stop even when I glared at him, it only made him laugh harder at my glare which was more of a pout.

"Wow freak, you l-look like an idiot fangirl." Sasuke stuttered out still blushing madly.

"Troublesome girl, this was worth waking up" Shika stated still smirking at my form.

"WOW I never knew you liked stuff like this Hinata-chan since you act so much like a boy dattebayo!" Naruto shouted out.

"I think you look cute Hinata-chan" Choji said giving me his cute little smile, I gave him a smile back before glaring again. I activated my Byakugan and gave an evil grin to Shisui.

"Fuck you Shisui Uchiha. I am going to KILL YOU!" I took a step to run at Shisui but before I could get to him, I tripped in my shoes. I took them off and threw them at him, he dodged. I got up to send Shisui to Kami, but before I could, Itachi grabbed hold of me saying he was taking me away from the day, everyone agreed if I promised to hang out with them each after my day with Itachi.

**Itachi**

Itachi stopped jumping through the trees and put me down. I noticed we made it to the training grounds in the Uchiha compound. He started walking ahead of me, and I followed after him. We made it inside and I ran past him into our shared room. I began to strip as fast as I could. Getting out of the horrid doll clothing, I put on a pair of black ankle length ninja pants a red shirt with my clan symbol on the back, and my ninja sandals. Exiting the room, Itachi was waiting for me. He took my hand and we walked to a tea shop.

"Thanks for the save 'Tachi, although you should have let me knock some sense into Shisui-nii." I said, taking a drink from my sour fruit tea. 98 percent of tea is gross, it tastes like dirty grass no matter what flavor, the only way to cover up the flavor is to add sugar, which still is nasty, but the amount of sugar needed is basically like me drinking diabetes, so I can only drink super bitter fruit teas. My tea is like drinking an unripened orange, super sour with hints of fruit, it also has lots of caffeine, like I need any, but still, its a good flavor. Like sour patch kids without the sweetness. I love sour and bitter things so its perfect, and it doesn't have that shitty taste other teas, even sweet fruit teas have. Nobody else likes tea like mine I found out, when I made myself tea. My friends took one sip of my tea and spit it out. The type of tea people like and how they think about tea says a lot about them as a person, at least thats what Lady Seiko says, and when we all discussed tea, she said that my tea style suggests I'm an anomaly and thats about it. So I guess she was right, I am an anomaly in all forms, yay my freakishness. Itachi likes classic made tea with extra sugar, the sweet tooth boy he is, which I think means he is a reserved person with an unknown kindness for people. Pretty spot on, maybe there is something to this tea shit, but I still hate it.

"Hn, I'll always be there to save you." He replied sweetly, while giving me a grossed out look because of how I can drink my tea so happily. Honestly, he's the gross one for drinking dirty leaf water. We sat and talked, mainly me doing the talking, for a few hours, downing cup after cup of tea. Although Itachi and I spend a lot of time together, he doesn't talk all that often so I only know surface things and tendencies he has. Drinking our tea, we finally got to know each other better. Itachi's dream is to have peace, when he was around for the 3d war, it scarred him and drove him to want to be a pafacist. He also wants Sasuke to surpass him in every way. Itachi is really caring and sweet, but after making him actually have a conversation not just about ninja stuff, he really is one of the most terrible at communication people I've ever met. Every time he says stuff it's so proper and awkward, like he's never had somebody to really be himself around, so he doesn't know who being himself is. It's pretty funny that the badass Itachi is such an awkward person when he's not using his emotionless mask.

Every once and awhile, I would say something and his eyes would glaze over and he would tense, it gave me the heads up that Danzo is already pushing towards the massacre and the coup is being planned. To distract Itachi from the inner turmoil he must be going through because of this, I let him know more about my life and myself, he knows about how I want to save everyone (he doesn't know who) and my sadness over never being able to have girl friends. I also told him about how I am a fangirl. He looked so confused at it until I explained it to him. I first told him about my love for Spider-Man, who doesn't exist here which confused him more, and how he is just the greatest thing and I would marry him. He seemed relieved he's not real though, maybe he was worried I wouldn't marry him or Sasuke, which I still am not going to. I also told him about members of the Akatsuki, without telling him who they are cuz that would end bad in so many ways. But seriously, I was a huge fan of the Akatsuki, I mean Hidan and Deidara and just everyone are just so sexy, minus the fucked up mindset part, but I know I can help some of them. Itachi also told me about how he had a crush on Izumi because of her dango, but said he's over her and somebody else has made him begin to fall in love. Whoever she is, is lucky. Maybe it's me but maybe not, we just are arranged to be married, he's not in love with me, I think, he probably thinks of me as a sister like Shisui does.

After finishing up our teas, Itachi brought me to a clearing by a river. Ive never been here before and I was so confused on why we were here. Noticing my confusion, Itachi handed me a scroll. It was for a basic water jutsu. He said he's been learning to teach me one since it's my main affinity. I let out a really 'badass' squeal in excitement and face planted into the ground when I was spinning, to which he chuckled slightly. I aimed a half-hearted glare at him.

"You never speak of this or I tell everyone of the dango incident Shisui told me about." Itachi froze, his cheeks reddened and he nodded quickly. I heard him whisper something about feeding Shisui to the cats piece by piece. Moving on, Itachi taught me the hand seals,Monkey, Rat, Tiger, Horse, Dragon, and showed me how to do the jutsu. It's a water style called Snakes Mouth. Its similar to the Water Dragon jutsu but way less intense and has a lot less hand seals. When Itachi did it, a snake head came out of the river and ate the nearest rock, throwing it into the air and crushing it slightly. It was AWESOME! Right away, I practiced the hand signs, which let me tell you, feels so awkward. I could feel my chakra moving around and pushing it out through my handseals. I did each of them slow until after about 10 minutes when I could do them in a faster succession, and 5 minutes later when I finally had them fast enough to actually produce a justu.

I did each hand seal, and when I finished with the Dragon seal, water raised out from the stream in a skinny pillar but then it just collapsed back into the stream. Damn it, after just one practice, I felt pretty tired, I didn't use up too much chakra since I have basically perfect control, but doing an elemental technique had a different strain than any of my other training has. Itachi had me do the justu again and turned on his Sharingan. When I failed at making more than a water pillar, which could be useful later, he explained how I am not controlling my chakra after it makes the pillar. I am supposed to keep focusing and mold my chakra with the water to make the snake head and have it move the way I want it to. My next try I made the water turn into a snake head, but it still was a straight up and down. After a few more tries, my final attempt I made the snake and got it to move the way I wanted, drenching Itachi and myself, it isn't the most intense in strength yet but with practice and developing my own technique, one day it will be super strong. After I finished the snake, I danced in victory, before passing out from exhaustion, leaving a soggy Itachi to carry me home.

**Shikamaru:**

I woke up in the morning still pretty tired from chakra exhaustion, so I decided today would be a good day to hang out with Shikamaru after the academy. Being at the academy was super boring today, we went over the founders of the leaf village: Madara and Hashirama. Most of the information is correct about Hashirama but there were a lot of errors about Madara and his role in the founding of the Hidden Leaf Village. Madara was portrayed as a power hungry evil man who only wanted to be the best. Madara is power hungry and became somewhat evil, because of his steps to make good things, but I thoroughly believe that situations make people bad, they are not born evil. A lot of information on Madara was missing too like how he actually got Izuna's eyes and stuff. It was really frustrating because Madara was actually a good guy before his family and village turned against him, making him hate the village he created.

I really wanted to fix the perception and tell everyone the real truth of the village founding and how even Hashirama wanted Madara as Hokage but nobody would believe me, and I'd get interrogated by someone scary like Ibiki until I confessed to how I got the knowledge. That is a big no-no. Oh well, Kunoichi classes were alright, Lady Seiko made us go through this kind of yoga thingie for women to be flexible, because a 'good kunoichi is a flexible kunoichi' or something. That was super easy, I'm the most flexible in class and have been flexible my whole life so nothing new.

At then end of the day, I walked out of school talking with Naruto when my hand was grasped and I was yanked away. I shouted a goodbye to Naruto before obediently following Shikamaru to wherever he was taking me. After him pulling me away from the other students, he released me and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He slowed his pace and walked in his lazy way only a Nara could. We walked in silence, I was doing some flips and twists when I would get bored. After about 6 minutes, we arrived to a grassy hill that had a single oak tree growing out of the top. Shika walked up the hill and laid in the shade of the tree, I followed and laid next to him. He turned his gaze to the sky and his entire demeanor seemed to relax even more. He looked so tranquil and in his element. We stayed like that for Kami knows how long before he decided to speak.

"I've always wanted to be a cloud, to just float along however the wind blows."

"That is such a boring life to live." I responded closing my eyes to enjoy the cool breeze and the tickle of grass against my skin. I failed to notice Shikamaru watching my every movement intensely, memorizing all of my features.

"Life is a drag, I just want a simple life, nothing more nothing less."

"Nothing about life should be simple, if its simple then what is the point of living. I want to earn the best life possible for myself and others, only then is anything worth it. If you strive for nothing then whats the point of even living."

"Troublesome girl." I know Shika is smart enough to explain his opinions and probably argue with me on why his way is better, but everything is too much energy for him. Lazy ass. I think he just sees life as if you don't strive towards a goal, then there is nothing to disappoint you with. He probably has a fear of failure like I do, but he's just going about his fear differently. Instead of overcoming his fear, he just ignores it and makes it so that failure can't even happen.

"Yeah yeah, you still love me Shika." I responded dryly. He gave a short chuckle and a quiet hum of yes. While Shika laid and watched the clouds, possibly sleeping, I meditated and worked on my plans in my head. At some point, I fell asleep for the first time in a while, unconsciously curling into Shikamaru's side. He's a nice body heater to sleep with.

I woke up from Shikamaru shaking me awake. The sly was brilliant hues of pinks and purples as the sun set. Deciding to go have dinner with Shika, we headed towards his compound. When I entered the door, I was greeted with a hug from Yoshino Nara, who was wearing an apron on her small frame. She ushered me to relax on the couch while scolding Shika for whatever he did. I giggled at their antics, she really is a spitfire woman to keep the boys inline. Shika took off his shoes and slumped over to me grumbling about how troublesome women are.

"Shika, wanna play Shoji, I'm still mad about my last loss."

"Sure" He replied, losing his bad mood instantly at the prospect of playing his favorite game. Shika and I were in an intense battle for an hour until I ended up making a fatal move which played right into his strategy, putting me in check mate. Shikamaru gave me his condescending lazy smirk and I pouted. Stupid super genius, I liked it better when I was smarter than him, now I'm not and it sucks. Just as I was about to say something to Shika about his win Shikaku walked in and informed us it was time for dinner. Shikamaru and I exchanged glances before rushing off to wash our hands and sit at the table. If we didn't hurry, Yoshino would kick our asses.

Dinner was so good, we had a bunch of noodle dishes and pork, yummy, I enjoyed every bite. The conversation was fun too, we talked about the academy and my Kunoichi classes. Shikaku also hinted to me that I would be able to see my father soon-ish which made me really happy, Hanabi and I miss him. After we finished eating and conversing, Shika walked me home. We walked close together since its dark and were in a comfortable silence the entire way home. WE stopped at the entrance of the Uchiha compound and I gave him a hug goodbye, missing the way his cheeks tinted pink. I went to Hanabi's room, kissed her goodnight and slid into my own futon, waiting for the boys to go to sleep so I can scheme.

**Naruto**

I jumped out of bed, got dressed and ready for school and raced downstairs. I was so late so I skipped breakfast and just grabbed a ration bar. I was up planning so late and I was so in my own world, I didn't realize that Sasuke had already left. Itachi was on one of his Anbu missions so he will be gone for a while. Fugaku was at work, and Mikoto was who knows where with Hanabi, so I was alone and so late. I ran out the door, hopped on a rooftop and sprinted to the academy. Instead of running through the hallways, I chakra climbed up the wall and to the window of Iruka-sensei's classroom. Pushing open the window, I waited for Iruka-sensei to turn around and write on the board. I flashed to my seat making Sasuke flinch and Naruto topple out of his seat.

"What the hell Hinata-chan where did you come from dattebayo?" Naruto yelled, pointing his finger at me. I shrugged, damn he just had to announce that I just got here.

"I've been here the whole time."

"Hinata-san?" Iruka questioned to get my attention. I turned towards him. "You're LATE! After school, you will help Naruto clean the classroom."

"Damn" I muttered. Naruto gave me a huge grin and fist pumped the air.

"Yatta, I will show you I'm the better cleaner Hinata-chan."

"Probably blondie, cleaning is boring. After we finish wanna get ramen and go train?"

"Hell yeah dattebayo, Ichiraku ramen here I come!" We both shared a grin then busted out laughing. For the last year, I've been training with Naruto to get him stronger. Naruto is actually pretty smart and talented when it comes to training. He works hard and does everything I do, to a lesser version for now, even if he complains the whole time.I also tried to help him in school, but it doesn't work in my favor, he's just not meant for it. His taijutsu is way less sloppy now, I'm super strict on him when it comes to his form and technique, when he does it properly, he is a force to be reckoned with. His kunai and shuriken training we get help from Shisui since I cant really explain how to do it. Sadly Naruto is way better than me at those too, especially when he was first learning versus me, he learned so much faster.

Even though I am teaching him, I make it more as a mutual training so he doesn't think I am trying too hard to be his sensei. I also decided that I would be on team 7 instead of Sakura. The way for that to happen is they put top shinobi and kunoichi with the last place boy. So since Sasuke and I will get top spots, even with my training, I told Naruto to not let anyone know how strong he is and to pretend to be dead last in everything. He doesn't have to try for schooling since he doesn't even show up sometimes, but for actual training, he has to play weak, which he hates. It works though because there has to be team 7, with all of us on it.

After class, we had to stay and clean. Naruto made it into a competition to see who could clean the most fastest, I won since I'm faster. After finishing, we went to get ramen. It, just like always, is really yummy. Miso is my favorite. At the ramen shop, I decided to give Naruto my present. I handed a box to him and he looked at me wide eyed.

"Happy Birthday Blondie. Open it." I said with a smile. Naruto jumped up and hugged me tightly, tears streaming down his face.

"You remembered. You remembered! You're my best friend Hinata-chan, you're the only person other than jiji who remembered dattebayo. Arigato!"

"How could I forget the one and only Naruto Uzamaki's 8th birthday?" I said with a huge grin threatening to rip my face. His reaction made me so sad, but so happy that he knows I care. "Ok now open it." I said bouncing in my seat, so excited for him to see what I got. He ripped the paper off and opened the small velvet box. Inside there were two silver rings. He looked at them and his face twisted into confusion.

"Eh, rings? Why?"

"They're not just rings dumbass, they are weapons."

"Coool thats awesome! Wait, how?" He responded to me still confused on why I got him rings.

"Put them on and I'll show you." He put them on each of his index fingers. "Ok so they are brass knuckled. When you add any amount of your own chakra into the rings, they will shift and cover your whole knuckle in a metal plate that enhances your punched to do triple the damage, they also protect your fists when hitting other metal, you can also one day add your chakra element into them and make them work as blades too, pretty cool right?" Naruto added chakra to his hands, another thing we've been working on, and the rings transformed into beautiful silver brass knuckles.

"This is so cool dattebayo! I'm totally going to kick ass even more with these now. You're really the best Hinata-chan." He said giving me another huge hug and his foxy grin. I chose brass knuckles as the perfect special weapon for Naruto because his wild hyperactive self is definitely going to be a heavy hitter and he uses his fists a lot, so if he uses brass knuckles it will make his power that much greater, also because they conduct chakra, when he learns wind chakra control he will be able to add it and make them like blades similar to Asuma. It's a perfect hand to hand, versatile, easy to use weapon for somebody like Naruto. They also look really badass, and the rings are pretty too. We finished eating and I paid for all of Naruto's bowls of ramen, emptying my wallet, and we headed towards out secret training ground. Only a few ninja know about the secret training ground, Naruto and I created it far into the forest away from prying eyes. The Hokage, Shisui, and some ANBU that trail Naruto are the only ones who know about it's existence.

When we reached the training ground, Naruto and I started without warm ups, then moved into our own Katas. Training alongside Naruto is nice because other than the Uchiha, he knows I have my own style I work on. Since I don't show it in the Academy, I can only practice it around him. We finished our run-throughs then I had him meditate and work on moving around his chakra within him to gain a better feel for his chakra. Finally, we sparred today, I made him use his brass knuckles to get a feel for them. The spar was better than the others, he has finally been showing his progress. His speed is higher, his hits more controlled, and he was finally able to begin to assess and counter my moves. Since I wasn't going full out, I let him land a hit and damn it actually hurt really bad. He cheered at his success and we ended the spar there. Based off Taijutsu, Naruto could now be top 4 in our class, he is just below Kiba in skill. After our training, since it's his birthday, I decided to pull a prank with him and pushed us going to the library to study sealing for next time.

"So Blondie who should we prank today?" Naruto gave me a mischievous foxy grin.

"Hokage-jiji hasn't taken me for ramen in forever. I think it's time for some payback dattebayo."

"The Hokage, that's crazy! I like the way you think Blondie, lets do it." We huddled closer and began to discuss our prank. After 30 minutes of planning, I went to the shopping area of the village and bought all of what we need, since most of the bastards wont let Naruto in their stores. I returned to our training ground, and together Naruto and I went to the Hokage's office. The office was empty, I'm guessing he was at dinner, so I helped cloak our chakras to nonexistent and we crept our way into his office and began to work. Getting in without getting caught was difficult, but surprisingly Naruto is a pro at stealth when needed and helped us get in unseen. Naruto Painted the walls as high as he could reach a light pink and, using my chakra to stick to the ceiling painted everything else a hot pink. We threw glitter all over the room and added tons of Uzumaki spirals all over the office. Not done yet, I placed cups all over the room so its impossible to step anywhere without stepping in pink or purple paint. Naruto filled his desk drawers with ramen and his chair had an invisible glue trap set up on it. At the door and window entrances, if they opened rainbow glitter paint will fall on the person. Right as Naruto finished putting up the last trap, we heard footsteps so I put Naruto on my back and we hung to the outside of the building looking in to watch the show. The door opened and the Hokage stood there in all of his glory, covered in rainbow glitter paint. Naruto began laughing uncontrollably so I covered his mouth with my hand. I was shaking trying to hold in my laughs. He looked around his room shaking his head with an almost unnoticeable smile/grimace thing. The ninja with the Hokage blanched and started freaking out, taking out some bandages to clean off some paint for the Hokage.

"That demon brat did this Lord Hokage, I will find him and punish him for you." The ninja said pissed off. Naruto tightened his grip on me in slight fear, and I growled in anger.

"Bring Naruto to me unharmed." The Hokage said, stern yet with no hint of malice towards Naruto. No way am I going to let Naru go down for this when it was my idea for a fun birthday event. Right after the ninja left, an ANBU who follows Naruto began to close in on us. Damn it, they escaped our traps. Allowing for a fast entrance, I opened the window we didn't rig and Naruto and I jumped in, ignoring as all of the paint seeped into my shoes. The ANBU in the room, standing on the ceiling, tensed but relaxed as the Hokage gave them a sign to step down. The Hokage, standing on his desk while a person cleaned up the cups, looked at me in confusion and slight amusement, before he turned to Naruto, I kneeled down and bowed.

"Lord Hokage, I am Hinata Hyuuga. You don't know me personally, but I am a friend of Naruto's. Please do not punish Naruto for this prank, it was my idea to have some fun for his birthday. I bought all of the materials and coerced Naruto into making the prank more bold. I was the one who trapped his ANBU guards and concealed our chakra to sneak in here for this. I take full responsibility and whatever punishment you have planned. Pardon Naruto as it is his birthday." I said as clear and calm as I could while kneeling in pink paint in front of the strongest man in the village. He also is in the knowledge of what is going on with my father.

"Wait Hinata-chan stop I-" I shushed Naruto from finishing his statement, still bowing.

"No Naru, you already have enough people punishing you for something that isn't your fault." At that statement, I could feel chakra spike with a minor KI from one of the ANBU.

"Rise child." The Hokage's coarse yet kind spoke out to me. I looked up at him and saw no anger so I rose and stood before him. "I had no intentions of punishing Naruto for this prank. I wanted to wish him a happy birthday. I also knew he had help, only somebody very advanced could sneak into my office unnoticed, it is surprising that it is the Hyuuga princess though. I do not plan on punishment for you either. On the contrary, I would like to give you a word of thanks." My eyes widened at his statement, and I saw an amused smile grace his old face. "You were able to sneak into my office and do a prank of this caliber. It is amusing and takes real talent even if I am covered in glitter. It also shows me how easily an enemy could have been here so I know what to fix with my security. I would also like to thank you for befriending Naruto and standing up for him even with all of the rumors going around about him. Naruto needs a friend like you, and I believe you need a friend like him." I didn't miss the knowing glint in his eyes. I lost all of my composure at this and began to beam. I fist bumped Naruto who was grinning at me and his Jiji.

"Thank you Lord Hokage. Naru, why didn't you tell me your jiji was such an awesome dude, even when covered in rainbow glitter, he was soo coool. I so though my ass was had back there but he just smiled and thanked me."

"Heh, my bad. Hey Jiji, can we take Hinata-chan to get ramen with us for my birthday pleasseee." He begged. I rolled my eyes when he accepted, only Naruto would be able to talk to the Hokage like that and have positive results.

**Kiba**

I left for the academy early, allowing for myself to take a relaxing walk and to get some caffeinated tea to wake myself up after another sleepless night. The Academy was another normal day, we finally increased out physical training and moved on to shinobi rules. Kunoichi classes are still the same, I'm still alone in them, Ino and Sakura don't speak to me at all, just glare. Lady Seiko seems to have noticed my discomfort with the other girls and makes sure they can't come and say things to me anymore. At the end of the day, I was walking aimlessly enjoying the heat when I heard high pitched barking coming closer and closer. I turned to my left and watched as a tiny white puppy came rushing past me. It was then that I heard Kiba's worried yells and I put two and two together. That cute little puppy is THE Akamaru.

Not wasting a second longer, I chased after the puppy. For something so young and small, he's so fast and agile. It must come with being a special Inuzuka ninken. I finally reached him and tackled him making sure not to crush him in the process. Little Akamaru started squirming around in my arms. I held him firmly and began to speak to him to calm him and let him know I wont hurt him. I also scratched behind his ears and he finally relaxed, moving his small body to snuggle more into mine, letting out small whimpers of happiness at my attention. Finally, Kiba caught up with me and skidded to a halt when he noticed I had Akamaru safely in my arms. He fave me a grin showing off his log canines.

"Akamaru there you are boy. Thanks for catching him Hinata. We were training when he just bolted." I giggled at Akamaru cooing at how he was a bad boy.

"No problem dude, he's so adorable. How long have you had him, and why didn't you tell me." I asked nonchalant. Kiba's eyes widened and he put his hands up shaking them in protest.

"Wait no, I just got him today. After some training I was going to come show him to you like I promised."

"Sureee it's not like you forgot or anything." I dragged out sarcastically.

"NO NO! I promise." Kiba shouted at me. Akamaru let out a bark seeming to be amused with the situaton. "Akamaru I did not forget."

"Oh well, I have nothing to do, can I tag along while you bond with him?" Akamaru gave a bark. It's so cool he can understand me, I wish I could understand him though, at least I have Kiba as a translator.

"Hai, Akamaru agrees too, we can make a day of it." Kiba said grinning excitedly. I put Akamaru on top of Kiba's head and we began to walk on a dog trail. Kiba was talking with Akamaru and doing some bonding through training so they can become one. It was really cool to watch. Akamaru is already smart, so instead of basic commands, which Akamaru would ignore since he didn't want to do them, instead they were training on synchronization and using their sense of smell to find one another. Every time Akamaru found found Kiba fast enough, I got to give him treats. He was so cute and his little tail wagged so fast when I would treat him. Even though they have only been together for a day, they already bonded and I can tell they are going to be the bestest of friends. Their synchronization was messy and clumsy, but by the end of the 4 hours of training, it was pretty good. Nothing like in the future where they can basically read one another's minds, but it was impressive nonetheless.

When they finished training, I went to Kiba's house to say hi to his mom, the most badass female I've met so far, Anko has the top spot in my book though. We walked into the house and Tsume was nowhere to be seen. We walked into the kitchen as I laughed at Kiba's insult to some of the boys in our class. When we entered the kitchen there was a really pretty girl who looked about 14. She had long brown hair tied up in a low ponytail, the same red markings as Kiba on her cheeks, and a wolfish grin on her face. Kiba let out a groan of fake annoyance.

"What a great way to welcome your wonderful sister home Kiba, you ass. Whose the small fry?" The girl, Hana Inuzuka said. I like her already too, she seems so cool and her sarcasm is funny. We'd get along just fine especially since she gives people nicknames too!

"Ugh Hana when did you get back?" Before they could converse, I answered Hana's question with a sly grin.

"Hinata Hyuuga, super badass shinobi in training who kicks your brothers ass all the time at your service Inuzuka-san." Hana's face flashed with recognition before she erupted in laughter. She stopped laughing, gave me a once over, sniffed me, then grinned.

"So you're Hinata, you don't seem to have a stick up your ass like the other Hyuuga. I like you small fry, you don't let Kiba's ego get too big and you smell good so we can get along. Tell me something that lets you earn food and to be able meet my dogs." Hmm, I know exactly what to say, I really want to meet her dogs. I love animals. I gave her a smirk, making Kiba and her look at me with interest.

"Have you seen the Hokage's office recently." That really peaked their interest. "I was the one who snuck in with Naruto and painted it pink and filled it with glitter and ended up unscathed. What better way to prank the big bad Hokage than to make his office fit for a princess." Kiba shouted at me saying how Naru and I are crazy. Hana smirked at me and handed me a plate of food, accepting my answer. While eating, we conversed about Hana's previous missions. She also told me embarrassing stories about Kiba, like how he licked himself clean for a week to be like a dog. I also got to meet Hana's dog and he seemed to take a liking to me since he would brush up against me a lot to get me to pet him. I also learned about how they work as vet's part time since they know so much about animals, especially canines. When Hana left for a late night training session, Kiba and I played with Akamaru, did a quick spar, and just messed around the whole time. It was really fun especially since Kiba is such a hothead and I could make him blow up and act like a wild animal. When the sun was fully set, I bid the Inuzuka family goodbye and went home to play with Hanabi, who is my sweet little princess.

**Neji**

Today was a free day and nobody has the Academy. I spent the morning playing with Hanabi. I love everything about her, she is the most precious thing to me. I've been trying to teach her how to run better, but she falls down a lot. I feel like time has flown by with her, I can't believe she is 2. Hanabi loves dresses and kimonos and always has to have one on. She really is the girly princess I am not. She deserves the title of Hime over me, so I always make sure to call her Hime which she loves. I also tell her stories from my past life, like cinderella and stuff, she gets so into them and swears she is going to be a princess like so much time with Mikoto, she is so well mannered and is going to be such a perfect lady when she is bigger.

After spending the morning with Hanabi, I rushed over to the branch member area of the Hyuuga compound. I turned on my Byakugan to search around for Neji, and I found him at one of the training grounds with Uncle Hizashi. Before they could see me, I went into their home and grabbed some water and snacks for them to eat after Neji finishes his training. I made my way back to the training ground and watched as Neji practiced in the gentle fist. He was so excited to finally be able to learn it since he can finally use his Byakugan for a long enough period of time. He was sweating and breathing so heavily as he tried to land a hit on his father. For being blind, Uncle is still a kick ass fighter, he is a sensory type and can sense the hits coming so he is still able to fight at such an incredibly high level. Finally, Uncle called off the training and turned towards me. Neji finally noticed my presence too.

"Hello Hinata-sama, what brings you here?" Uncle said with a small formal bow. I hate how formal he is towards me, but he is still kind.

"Ohayo Uncle, no formalities, we've talked about this. I just wanted to spend the day with Niisan, we haven't gotten to spend much time together and I'm missing him." Neji and Uncle both gave me a small smile at this.

"Hai Hinata-hime, I would like to spend the day together too. Also, arigato for the refreshments." Neji said sipping down his water. I jumped up in excitement, I gave a hug to Uncle and yanked Neji to make him stand up.

"What are we gonna do? Nothing boring, no matter how lame you think things are Niisan, I want something exciting." Neji rolled his eyes, still looking as fierce as ever.

"I would like to go to the library and work on a project for school." He said. Yes, I haven't been to the library in forever! I fist pumped and we ran off to the library. Neji grabbed us a spot to sit and we both went off finding out books. I looked around trying to find books on how to use my daggers more effectively and books on chakra manipulation. When I sat down, I saw Neji had gathered books about the 5 main shinobi Nations. We read in comfortable silence for a while, I stopped reading a few times to ask him questions about possible techniques for my daggers. Neji is so smart when it comes to combat and he thinks differently than Itachi, so when I can, I get his input on my ideas too to make sure I wont kill myself or epically fail trying to execute something.

Reading a more advanced book on chakra manipulation is so helpful, it's giving me ideas on so many things I can do with my chakra. Since I can manipulate my chakra into a point on my finger expelling it to block others chakra, it might be possible to expel it through different Tenketsu points and so when somebody hits me, it will still do the same effect as if it was with my fingers. I also think I could try to expel my chakra out of a point when another Byakugan user or med ninja hits one of my Tenketsu points to make the damage less effective. Like if somebody were to strike at my heart with chakra, if I put my chakra and expelled it as a protective coating around my heart, instead of a fatal attack, it would just send me to the hospital. I'll have to practice around with each thought for the next few months before I test it out, then if it works I can hopefully teach it and help it become more impressive with Neji's help.

Neji finished his work and he told me about the 5 Great Nations. Even with the show, there wasn't a super detailed explanation of the great Nations. It's interesting to see the nations and their relationships to one another. Right now, Neji told me that Konoha has an alliance with Suna, and that Kumo and Kiri are neutral, and Iwa is not on peaceful terms. Iwa really hates Konoha because of the Yondaime Hokage. Kumo and Suna are not on peaceful terms so and Kumo's attempted kidnapping, there is no alliance, and Kiri is just to bloody and scary for us to ally with. These topics are so interesting, and right before we left, I added a book on former treaties and their contents, at least the information we are aloud to know since ninja like to keep secrets and stuff.

After the library, Neji and I went to the grocery store and got a bunch of vegetables and stuff. Neji is the biggest health freak I've ever met, thank god protein shakes don't exist or he'd be living off of them. We bought his groceries and went home to cook. I love Neji but I want to punch him in the face sometimes. He is literally so perfect, like a real prince. He has super nice hair, how come I'm the only one without brown hair, is smart, has perfect diction, is a prodigy without extra knowledge like I am, is pretty handsome, is graceful, and is a really good cook even if its all healthy. I sat and watched as Mr. Perfect moved around the kitchen gracefully cooking us dinner. He put a bunch of vegetables on a pot and seasoned them with god knows what. The aroma of food filled the air and I could feel my mouth watering. He set down the bowl rice and assortment of colorful cooked veggies. We broke our chopsticks and thanked Kami for the food.

One bite and I was in healthy people heaven, only Neji, and maybe Mikoto, could make vegetables taste like heaven. The food was spicy and savory and I ate every last drop. I complimented Neji and he just smirked, seeming pleased with my praise. It wouldn't be him though if he didn't drop an insult about how it's my destiny to be a terrible cook forever. I pouted and he continued to 'playfully' insult my failures as a woman, in a super dick-ish and honest but not mean way. I also made him tell me more about his classmates and he had nothing good to say about anyone, to him they are all destined to be failures. I can't wait until he gets his team, then hopefully they will show him the BS in his destiny crap when Lee becomes super amazing and strong despite looking like a dipshit. Not wanting to leave, Neji and Hizashi allowed me to sleep in Neji's room, his comfort and my exhaustion let me have my first night of full sleep in months.

**Choji**

We went through the beginner obstacle corse today with Iruka-sensei. Instead of real kunai, they were wooden, but they still bruised when people got hit. Sasuke and I finished it with a breeze, Naruto could have finished easily too after all of our training, but he remembered to pretend to suck still, so he made sure he was klutzy and came in last doing it. It's so funny to watch Naruto pretend to suck, he over exaggerates everything and I tried so hard not to laugh at him, especially when he gives me that knowing foxy grin. Shikamaru could tell something was up when he watched Naruto with a suspicious gaze, but I don't think he's figured out what mischievous thing Naru and I are up to yet. After the obstacle course, we worked on going through basic academy katas, boring. Finally it was lunch time. Instead of eating lunch studying in the classroom like normal, I went and found Naruto, pulling him away from his stalking of Sakura. I'll never get why he likes her but oh well.

"Agh, what the hell Hinata-chan, I was just about to go talk to Sakura-chan." He pouted. I continued dragging him, ignoring his pouting.

"We are going to study sealing, I have been reading up on so that you can become a master. It's in your Uzumaki blood so you already have an affinity, you just have to learn how to use it." Naruto looked at me blankly, tilting his head to the side, then his face lit up and he fist pumped in happiness.

"Yatta! I'm going to be a seal master dattebayo. Hinata-chan, what is sealing?" I deadpanned, leave it to Naruto to be excited for something he doesn't even know about. For the next hour I taught him the basics of what sealing is, forgetting to eat.

Finally, at the end of the day I left the school and went to find Choji. Today was the big BBQ eat off and we both entered. Looking around the front of the Academy, I finally saw the wild mane of Choji's hair. I made a beeline right for him and he smiled at me when he noticed my arrival. Munching on his chips, we began to walk to the town.

"Are you ready for the BBQ Hinata-chan? I am, I cant wait to enjoy all of those delicious meats." He said basically drooling. I cant blame him, the meat here is, especially from Yakiniku Q, is really, really good.

"Fuck yeah I am, I about to out eat all of those old geezers." I said confidently. A fire lit in the normally sweet and timid boys eyes.

"No way Hinata-chan, I am going to be the champion, I refuse to lose." I laughed at his ferocity. Choji always can make me laugh and feel good, he's just so sweet and caring. We continued our journey, talking about life. Choji told me more in depth on how he and Shika became besties and what his goals for becoming a shinobi are. Choji is too sweet, his goals are to become strong and protect the people he loves. We have similar goals, yet they are very different. It feels good to know that I will have Choji to watch my back, not many people I can truly say they will protect me forever. Choji is one of the few I wholeheartedly believe he will do his best to protect me straight up. Finally making it to the competition area, I noticed I was the only girl there. The area was filled with old chunky men, they looked at Choji and I before laughing at us. They were totally underestimating us.

I could see the desire to win burning in Choji's eyes, we shared a glance, the unspoken message to win was spoken. Finally the bell signaled for us to start wolfing down the gigantic plate of various meats rang. I could hear the scarfing down of food around me and after some time, people collapsing out of their chairs from being too full. I ignored the burning of my stomach and continued, until the announcer told us to stop. I made it about 1/2 way done. I looked over to Choji and noticed his plate was empty. He won! I praised him bowing down to the master. I'm never doing that again though, I feel like I'm going to explode. I don't have the same impressive ability to convert my food into chakra like Choji does so I cant eat as much as him and I cant eat a ton without feeling like I'm going to be sick. Man that would be so useful so I could eat more.

Choji noticed my green face and helped me get home, lightly chastising me for eating too much. I just responded with the simple fact that I wanted to hang out with him doing something he liked so I did it to the best of my ability. That got me a big hug from him.

Instead of going home, I was feeling better so Choji decided to take me to one of his favorite places. We went to a daycare for babies of on-duty shinobi. Choji really likes babies and must visit them a lot. When we walked into the place, some of the guardians there welcomed him back with happy smiles. Choji led me around and told me about each of the babies he knows as he cradled them. He's really good with kids and everytime they cried, he would hold them and they'd stop, it was magic. I was enjoying watching him look so happy with the kids when I saw a small baby with green hair and blue eyes. He was such a cute, exotic looking little boy. We locked eyes and had a staring contest until I smiled at him, he smiled back. I went over to him and held him in my arms, his name tag said his name was Hydeoshi.

I cooed to him and made my way back over to Choji, holding Hydeoshi securely in my arms. This is just proof that Choji has one of the kindest hearts, he loves so much it's beautiful to see, one day he is going to make the best husband and father for someone. The rest of the afternoon, Choji and I spent playing with the babies. I never left Hydeoshi, something about him made me form a bond, I know I will come back to see him and hopefully meet his parents sometime. Seeing all of the babies helped me put into perspective all I am working to save, it helped ease the stress, knowing I am working for something bigger than myself and my fantasies. I bid farewell to Choji and we made plans to come back to the daycare as many times as we can together.

**Sasuke**

Today with Iruka-sensei, we did the basic physical training and tested on types of Chakra and chakra natures. Easy peasy, the real surprise came from my Kunoichi classes. For some reason the other girls in my class have taken it upon themselves to make my life sucky. The worst part isn't even the bullying, its that Ino and Sakura just glare at me all of the time. At least with them they have a sort of friendly rivalry, but with me its like they hate me every time they see me. It hurts and makes it difficult to even want to show up to class. It also sucks on the ninja aspect of class that I am so far ahead of the other girls, it just makes their tormenting worse. In class I also excel at the dances we do, which makes everyone pissed that such an ungraceful tomboy can look so pretty dancing. The way I make up for it is that I suck at basically all other womanly things, I still cant do a proper tea ceremony and for the life of me I can't remember how dishes are supposed to set up. I also can't cook, can't dress myself properly in a Yukuta, can't do any fancy hairstyles, basically a lot of proper woman/housewife stuff I fail at and I don't know why. Somehow I cannot use the grace I have when fighting and dancing into my everyday life, and I just don't want to use proper language, I like the way I talk and don't want to change it just because it's unbecoming of a young lady. I also know that I could possibly learn this stuff, but I'm so afraid that if I do, I will never regain my friendships, jealousy does bad things to people.

Lady Seiko noticed my issues with the other girls, and because she is a scary and too smart woman, she figured out my failures and problems quickly. Taking that into consideration is why today was so wild. Lady Seiko had me stay after class and offered to personally train me for the next few years, until I become a Chunin. She said I have potential and that she sees herself in me, how I have no clue. She explained how she will teach me all of the things I will lack without a mother and she will not force me to change my personality, she will just help me become adept at being the ideal woman whenever I need to use skills like those, ninja wise instead of wife wise like the other girls. She also comforted me with my issues with the girls and tried explaining how jealousy works in their minds. I still don't fully understand why boys seem to matter so much, but whatever. I accepted, Lady Seiko is a badass and was one of the top Jounin of her time, denying her would be a waste. So now, I have a strong female figure (besides Mikoto who I will always see as my surrogate mother) to look up to.

I left my meeting with Lady Seiko and had a wide grin on my face. It feels so good to have a woman, especially one scary and perfect like her, to want to train me and take care of me on the girl stuff boys just don't understand. I was surprised to see Sasuke waiting for me when I made it to the Academy to pick up my stuff.

"Whats up with the dopey smile freak?" Sasuke questioned me with a smirk, as soon as I came into his view.

"None of your business duckbutt. Whats up, why did you wait, usually you go off training after school?" Sasuke turned from me and shrugged, pushing his slight blush down.

"I need a training partner today since Aniki is gone again, and I was going to find some cats again and wanted to see if you could come, only if you don't fangirl though." He said in his snarky joking tone. I just gave him a mocking smile.

"Oh my gosh, THE Sasuke-kun is inviting me to fight him and find cats. How romantic I might die, eep" I fake fangirled, making him laugh and cringe at the same time.

"You sound just like them." He then started walking away from me. He turned his head and with his little smile said, "You coming?" I did a few fast steps to catch up with him. I jumped on his back and made him carry me, which he did so wonderfully. It's pretty easy because I'm short and he's tall for our age. Sasuke told me all about his and Itachi's last training session and that he got slight praise for learning a lightning jutsu called "Electromagnetic Murder." Even though I live with him, we don't have a ton of time to talk and train together anymore so it's nice to just hang out with the Sasuke I know, before all of the Uchiha craziness goes down. Sasuke and I did some training together, me working on my Snake jutsu and him working on his lightning jutsu. It was fun and we were both drained after. Then we made it to the 'crazy cat ladies' home and she gave us a booklet and ink to stamp the paws of the cats down for ID purposes.

We were given cat ears that allow us to understand the cats and were sent on our way. Sasuke and I bantered the whole way, me making fun of his cute kitty ears and him making fun of me for being a klutz. We caught a few cats, it's really amusing. Since I met Sasuke and Itachi, they have gone off and done this together, its fun to actually be doing it. The first time I heard a cat talk, I almost lost my mind. It was so weird. My bewildered expression made Saskue laugh at me for a long time, calling me dumb for not expecting the cats to talk even when we were given the headbands. I just grumbled in defeat and kept looking for cats. Some of the cats are so funny and talk so badly, they curse as much as Hidan. When we were chasing a particularly fast tabby cat, I heard shriek of "Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke and I stopped, turned to each other fear evident in both of our eyes, then looked behind us. There was a herd of about 25 girls all with hearts in their eyes for Sasuke. They saw me and glowered, I saw my life flash before my eyes. Sasuke grabbed my arm and we both yelled.

"RUN!" For girls who are so slow and weak in the Academy, damn can they run fast. Their endurance seemed endless when chasing their precious Sasuke. After what seems like forever, Sasuke pulled me into a tree and the fangirls gave up searching. I looked over to Sasuke and he looked so pale and frightened, I busted out laughing.

"You should see your face, you look terrified." His face turned from fear to annoyance.

"You were scared too, fangirls are crazy." I laughed harder especially since he's right and fangirls like his are terrible and frightening creatures that will rip you apart.

"True, that was still fun though. Nothing says bonding like running away from crazed girls." Sasuke gave me a quick snort at that and then pushed me out of the tree before jumping down after me. Deciding its safe, we walked home together, me on his back yet again, Sasuke walking with a pep in his step. I think he feels macho when he carries me around. We made it home, took turns showering and played with Hanabi together while talking about stuff to study for with the upcoming tests to pass to the next year. We laid close to one another, ready for bed, and I decided that I could take a break from planning before my mind implodes so I fell asleep with the warmth of Sasuke.


	7. The Academy: A new hero is rising

Turning 8 was one of the most stressful times of my life. I know that Itachi massacres the clan when Sasuke is 8, which means it's coming soon. The more pressing matter of this situation is Shisui Uchiha. Shisui is my brother in everything except blood and I refuse to let him die, I don't care if his death is supposedly a fixed event on a timeline, I refuse to let it happen. I will do whatever it takes to stop him from getting taken by Danzo, and killing himself. I will die before I let that happen, I don't know if I can take the heartbreak of losing my big brother, the one who has cared for me and made me laugh just because he can tell I'm tense, the one who has trained me for years, the one who gets on my nerves yet makes it funny. This is stage one, I have to save Shisui.

To start my plan, I've been monitoring Shisui's chakra whenever he is in the village. I am not a sensory type, but because of my chakra control, I can focus on one person's chakra constantly if I try. Thats what I do everyday now, I can feel when it changes drastically and have been keeping track of it so that I know when he is in trouble. I know the time is coming closer and closer because everything in the Uchiha compound is so tense and weird, even Sasuke has noticed it. Itachi always has a fake and pained smile on his face, Shisui is overbearing with love and always makes it seem like his last goodbye when he goes somewhere.

I haven't slept in what felt like forever, I've been spending every moment planning and freaking out about what to do. I know I have to save Shisui, even if I am no match for Danzo, I have measures that will at least allow me to stay under his radar and keep Shisui alive. I also lost my spot at the top of the class from spending all of my time stressing, planning, and training instead of doing school work. Lady Sieko has noticed but she's letting me have my meltdown. I just cant wait until this whole thing is over, it's been the hardest decisions I have ever made and every time I think about all of it now, my heart clenches in pain. All I can do now that I've finished planning is to wait and be ready.

It was close to the end of Kunoichi class and we were doing something with the way different word tones have different meanings or something. I was monitoring Shisui's chakra when it spiked higher than I have ever felt it. I waited a second to see if it was just from intense training, but when it kept freaking out in a wild way, I knew it was happening. I shot up and started to run away. Lady Seiko stopped me and demanded to know where I was going, I ignored her and pushed past, heading to where Shisui's chakra was. He was so far away, the opposite side of the village, I pushed myself faster and faster, ignoring the searing pain from moving so fast. I released my weights and was even quicker. I felt Shiusi's chakra surge yet again before it fell to drastically low levels. I turned on my Byakugan to see what was happening since I'm close enough now. I watched as Shisui's green Susano fell away and he fell to the floor. Danzo approached him and I screamed but nothing came out. I could feel myself shaking in fear and I raced to him.

Danzo reached down and plucked out one of Shisui's eyes and reached for another one, before he could, I summoned all of my strength and sent my Water snake at Danzo, pushing him away from Shisui. I could feel my strength draining slightly from putting so much Chakra into the jutsu to make sure it reached them. I then hit the ground with closer to them, releasing a large amount of chakra, shattering the ground in a large crater. The ground that didn't crumble away still shook shocking Danzo for an instant, bringing his attention off of Shisui and to me. Where I was standing, couldn't see who I was, and with the attention on me, Shisui took the moment and flickered far away from here. Not wanting to be seen by the asshole Danzo, I pushed through my want to kill him where he stands, and I went to where Shisui was, using the body flicker over those long of distances, I could only flicker one more time before I'm too drained to stay awake, I'm still too weak.

I watched, tears streaming down my face as Shisui handed his other eye to Itachi, a serene smile on his face, not fitting with the scene of the blood dripping from his eyes. Itachi was crying and protesting, but finally stopped and put the eye in one of his birds. Then Shisui leaned back and dove off of the cliff, passing out from exhaustion and pain on his way down. I screamed in panic, and flickered to the bottom of the cliff, using the last of my chakra to stick to the wall and catch Shisui. I put him on my back and began to climb back up the cliff. I knew Itachi was gone and had activated his Mangekyo.

I failed at saving Shisui from losing his eyes and couldn't make it in time to fight Danzo alongside him, but he's not dead. I cried in sadness and relief, my eyes to blurry to see where I was climbing, and my mind too wound up to think straight. Shisui's alive for now, but he's still dangerously low on chakra and has some serious injuries. I was numb, the only thought running through my mind is to save Shisui. I couldn't feel the groaning of my young muscles from carrying him and using up my chakra, that has been running low from my lack of sleep and constant surveillance. I made it to the top of the cliff and instead of stopping, I ran and ran until I made it to the hospital.

I rushed inside the doors and everyone halted staring at us in worry.

"Help please help him. I can't lose him. I failed, I cant lose him. Don't let me fail more. Help!" I screamed in a panic. I faintly could hear the shocked gasps of the doctors around me and the yelling for people to take care of him. I felt Shisui be lifted off of my back and I saw the faint blob of a red headed woman in front of me. Her lips seemed to be moving but everything was too blurry. I finally let out a final cry and blacked out.

I woke up, yet again blinded by the brightness of the white room. I was in momentary bliss until I remembered what happened. Why did I pass out, I didn't even do any real fighting. I'm too weak to do anything right, I need to be stronger, I will be stronger. As soon as I can I will grow my reserves to be as large as possible, hopefully I can match Kisame or someone like that someday.

My hands were covered in bandages for some reason. I looked to my arms and saw a large IV bag connected to the veins in my right arm. I pulled out the IV and detached the heart monitor making it flatline. I stood up on my slightly shaky legs and walked to the door. Right when I was leaving a nurse ran to me and tried to get me to lay back down. She told me I had been sleep for days and my body was so exhausted and weak from lack of sleep, explaining why I was so weak. I protested wildly and kept asking fro Shisui. All I care about is if he's safe right now. Finally, the nurse stopped and she allowed me to go see him if I let her put my IV back in. I agreed and she led me to Shisui's room.

I walked in and held my breath at what was in front of me. I've never seen Shisui look so beat up, even after his more difficult missions. I rushed to sit in the chair at his bedside. His hair, normally wild and curly was matted down with dried blood looking lifeless and gross. The upper half of his face was covered with bandages that I could tell blood was still seeping into. The lower half of his face was marred with cuts and he had a fairly large bruise on his jawline, making it swell largely, if I didn't know it was Shisui, I wouldn't have recognized his beat up face.

Although his body was covered, I knew it would look similar to his face. I could see the various wires and machines hooked up to him keeping him alive and monitoring his very weak heart rate. I let my tears flow as I stared upon my big brother, I carefully laid my hand on top of his and made a promise to do better for him and everyone else. What's the point of trying to make things better if the people I love and want to fight for still end up like Shisui. There has to be something I can do to have better outcomes.

I watched in mournful awe and silence as a doctor came in and added healing chakra into his hands, when the faint green glow showed, he placed his hands on Shisui's chest and began to heal him. For the day, the same doctor would come in and every-other hour would heal Shisui for 30 minutes. He was looking better, most of the superficial cuts were gone and the doctors told me his condition was no longer life threatening. I never left his side, I could only fall asleep when the doctor was healing Shisui, I think he messed with me because I was out instantly when he walked in the room, he must have used some gas or chakra trick to put me to sleep. Even though I didn't want to sleep, I felt better and stronger than I have been because of it. Different ANBU, and other Jounin have come in to drop presents off for Shisui, but I was alert. I will not let Danzo anywhere near Shisui to finish the job. I also haven't seen Itachi or any other Uchiha come in to visit Shisui but I could barley feel Itachi's chakra outside of Shisui's window, probably checking to see if he's ok.

I had just woken up from another healing session, and now that he is healed enough, I was told I could lay beside him. Not waisting the moment, I crawled next to him, comforted by my brothers warmth. Even though he still was in a medical induced coma, I told him stories to keep him entertained. I told him about my favorite superheroes and how I want to be like them but will be better because I will be able to kill (come on their fatal flaw is not killing a bad guy), I told him about all of the foods I want to have somebody make here, I told him about anything and everything I could think of while imagining his responses to me. He would wear that shit eating grin and enjoy my stories with me, never asking about what I was talking about, he gave up on questioning who the people and things were long ago. It was comforting and helped me deal with the intense fear I constantly was feeling.

Finally, after a week, the doctors decided Shisui was stable enough to wake up tomorrow, he would have to stay in the hospital for a few weeks after, but they would finally bring him back to me. Finally, Shisui is healed and ok, just eyeless, which I promise to somehow fix. I was also released, and the bandages that I had were removed. My body was sore, but since I've been sleeping, I was getting back to my normal strength. I now know that I need to sleep to actually do anything successful. The intense weight I was holding, lifted slightly and I cried in relief and for the first time since I arrived at the hospital, I smiled.

I woke up after another healing session for the night and was still elated that Shisui is going to wake up tomorrow. I was calm, knowing Hanabi was safe with Hizashi and I could focus all of my attention to the soon to be awake Shisui. I was talking to him more lighthearted than usual, pushing down the dread I have for what is to come, when an overwhelming chilling sensation overcame me. I quickly hopped out of Shisui's bed and grabbed my daggers, attaching the sheath to my back. I activated my Byakugan and sat down in the chair, trying to pretend I didn't feel such a horrible feeling. I must be paranoid, its been a few minutes and nothing. I was about to turn my Byakugan off when a figure manifested into the room and threw a kunai at Shisui. Before the kunai hit, I unsheathed one of my daggers and blocked it, sending it clattering to the tiled floor. I looked at the attacker, expecting Itachi or Danzo, but I was pushed into momentary shock.

The man was dressed in a floor length bulky black robe and a black turtleneck undershirt. He had long unruly black hair and an intimidating aura. The most distressing thing was his mask, I know that mask, it's orange and black tiger striped with a single eyehole on the right side. I could see the red glinting dangerously, and all of the chakra flowing around him, each side of his chakra was different, I could see the flow from the white Zetsu and what was Obito's own chakra. Fuck, I can't beat Obito no matter what, but I'm going to give him the fight of my life, hopefully it will be enough to stall him for Shisui to survive. I began to shake at the fear of fighting Obito, I have been afraid, but even when I was going to be kidnapped I have never felt fear like this before, it filled me from the inside out, making it hard to even breathe. I clenched my dagger tighter and tried to regulate my chakra to calm myself.

An evil chuckle, turning into a laugh echoed the room.

"A little girl like you, shaking in fear, thinks she can fight me. Ha, run along and leave this Uchiha scum to his demise like the rest of the pitiful clan." Hearing his deep voice and cruel tone, I wanted to run. Instead, I thought about all I have to do and what I'm fighting for, I stopped my shaking and looked him dead on, my glare looking as deadly as it could.

"Whatever,I will fight you to the death if it means protecting him, I'm not scared of a man who hides behind his many masks to be strong. And if the clan you so willingly massacred is scum, what does that make you, you're one of them." I said with fake enthusiasm trying to keep my voice from shaking. I know he doesn't get the full extent of what I'm insetting, but he understands enough. I could see his chakra move from amusement at my fake innocence to deadly swirling at me knowing his clan already. Maybe picking on one of the most deadly shinobi isn't a good idea.

"I'm impressed you figured it out so quick girl, you're smarter than I thought. A prodigy much like the one that killed his whole family. Lets see if you can fight like one too, at least you can die along with the Uchiha you try to protect." He lunged at me. I dodged and tried slashing at him, only to have it phase through him. If I can't hit him, he cant hit me so I have to use my Olympic style only to make sure I either never get hit or we both get hit. I saw the chakra increase slightly up in his left arm and I moved to strike the same arm he was going to try to hit me with. When our fists collided, I released chakra sending him back, and his kick I failed to dodge sent be the opposite direction. Each strike and move I made was done to keep him away from Shisui.

"Impressive, few can land a hit, especially one that hurts like that, on me. Shame, you'd be a wonderful pawn." He said shaking his arm out like I didn't just try to shatter his bones. Scoffing, I launched myself into another attack. I acted as if I was going to punch him head on, but instead pushed off the ground doing a corkscrew mid air aiming kick and slicing with my dagger at where he would have to move to dodge. Instead of dodging, he grabbed my hand with the dagger, letting the kick hit, and then proceeded to throw me into the wall, hard. I gasped as my back collided with the wall, leaving an indent. He walked over to shisui, kunai drawn, and I pushed myself out of the hole, spitting out blood. He was moving slow as to mock me while he went to kill Shisui, not accepting this, I released all of the weights in my resistance weights, feeling the flood of chakra into my body. I could move faster and more deadly and I could feel the momentary shock at the speed of my next attack. Sadly he let me phase through him, but it was enough to get his attention off of Shisui once again.

"You fucking fake ass Madara, stay away from my brother!" We both stopped at my outburst. Shit, I didn't mean to reveal that, damn it I can't let my anger and fear get to me like that. Obito let out a hum of surprise that turned into a menacing growl.

"You are smart, too smart, its time to end this little game of ours _Hime_" He said with a mix of a growl and a mocking tone. I shivered at his voice. I finally began to feel the pain of his attacks, the kunai cuts and bruises from his attacks. He was holding back, I'm screwed. I was suddenly pinned to the wall with Kunai, some imbedded into my flesh and others my already ripped clothes. I let out a scream of pain. Obito mockingly pretended to caress my face, using a kunai instead of his fingers, adding cuts so I could feel the cool blood dripping down my face.

"Such a shame, your undying kindness and loyalty reminds me of Rin." He began to make familiar hand seals, ending with the tiger sign. I looked to Shisui, gave him a small smile and began to coat myself in chakra, hoping it will protect me from the fireball enough to survive. I could feel my chakra flickering and knew I might not make it. Right as Obito blew out a fire dragon, a water snake shot through the window dousing the fire. In jumped Itachi covered in the blood of his family. I wanted to cry for him but I couldn't. All I felt was rage seeing his face looking so tortured. Rage at Danzo, the real Madara, at his clan, at myself for having that happen to him, the kind and loving 'Tachi reduced to a coldblooded murderer.

Itachi glanced at me and his gaze turned into one of stone cold anger. I couldn't hear what they were saying to one another, my body lacking too much blood now to function properly. My eyesight wavered and all the pain was beginning to fade, a sign I was dying. Itachi walked up to me and removed the kunai, cradling me in his arms. I felt his tears drip down onto my face as he stared into my eyes. I tried to say I'm sorry but I couldn't find the words. Itachi leaned down and kissed me, it was gentle and said all of the emotions he could not. I felt myself succumb to the surprise of the kiss, and closed my eyes relaxing, ready to die. Itachi separated his mouth from mine and said he was sorry. I opened my eyes once more and was met with his Sharingan. I tried to stop it, but instead was met with darkness, the red eyes of his left to haunt me.

(Third person POV)

"It's done I presume." The man clad in the orange mask asked the former Uchiha heir.

"Hn. Everyone except Sasuke and Shisui are dead." Itachi responded, his face and voice void of any emotion.

"What of the girl? Did you do as we decided? I will kill her and the boy if you defy me."

"Her memories with you are altered to be of me. She knows not of your presence Madara-sama." Obito smirked in success behind his mask. He not only got to get rid of the vile clan that ruined his life, he found a new pawn that will sure play a role possibly greater than the Uchiha boy with him. Obito and Madara were both intrigued at how the girl figured out what nobody else could, and her prowess as a ninja even so young, was so impressive. She fought in a way he's never seen, and her eyes were so full of mystery he needed to know and use. This girl, if she falls into his clutches will be the final unknown piece he needs for success. She could be the reason fro success or failure, but they wont let that happen.

_Back at the hospital_

Nurses, doctors, and ANBU came crashing into the room after the seal on the door was finally released. The news of the massacre had reached them and they went in to check on Shisui. The sight they were greeted with made all of them, even the stone cold ANBU grimace in disgust. They looked over Shisui and sighed in relief that nothing was wrong, thats when they turned to the little girl. It was hard to tell who it was at fist, she was so bloody, but once the doctors remembered how little Hinata-hime wouldn't leave the room, they knew. Each of them looked around the room, there were holes in the walls and kunai and blood splayed throughout. The head doctor, Aiko's heart clenched in sadness for the sweet girl he saw everyday. Wasting no time to mourn, he commanded his staff to prepare a bed, a surgical room, and contact her family. He got to work right away, the green chakra enveloping his hands. He healed as much as he could to be able to transport her, swift and carefully, he moved her to a stretcher and they transported the small girl into a surgical room. Everyone there was looking at the girl in respect and pity.

4 hours later the girl was fixed up, covered in bandages. Her wounds would still take a while to fully heal, but thats not what was worrying everyone about the little girl. Her mind seemed to shut off and no matter how often the doctors tried to start up the nerve receptors in her mind she wouldn't wake up. Aiko went as far to have Inoichi enter her mind and disciver what happened to her mind, but when he entered, a red Mangekyo Sharingan flashed kicking him out of her most recent memories. Talking with everyone, Inoichi deduced the only person who could help Hinata would be Shisui. Aiko put Hinata in the same room as Shisui, knowning they would not want to be apart for longer than necessary right now. After settling Hinata, in her comatose state, Aiko went to Shisui. He added chakra into his brain, waking him up from the coma the doctor put him in. Instead of waking up right awya, it took 3 more days for Shisui to regain real consciousness.

When he came to, Shisui shot up, wincing in pain. He couldn't see anything and it freaked him out. Then in a flash, his memories of what he thought was his suicide flooded his mind.

"Where am I? How am I alive? What is going on?" Shisui asked still freaked out, hoping he's not in the clutches of the bastard Danzo.

"Shisui Uchuha, you are in Konoha's hospital. You are alive because Hinata-sama saved you but nobody knows how or why. Before we can give you more information about your situation, we need to inform you of some tragic news and get your help." Aiko said calm and clear like the trained doctor he is. Everyone noticed the way Shisui tensed when Aiko talked, they just chalked it up to worry, ignorant to how he tensed because Hinata was the one who saved him. He had an inkling she was the one who attacked Danzo, but this solidified his worry.

"What is it?" Shisui said, his head still pointing straight ahead. Using a small amount of chakra, he felt and found Hinata's chakra next to him. He breathed a sigh of relief that she was alive, but her silence let him know something was wrong.

"The Uchiha clan, your clan has been massacred by Itachi Uchiha, you and your cousin Sasuke are the only survivors. Your survival was only possible because Hinata-sama fought to protect you." They all watched as Shisui's fists clenched around the sheets and he sucked in a deep, shaky breath of air. Shisui was sad, all of the sacrifice and things they worked for, Itachi still had to end his clan. "The problem is that in Hinata-sama's fight with Itachi, her mind shut down. We have tried everything to wake her up. Inoichi looked inside her mind, but all he saw was the Sharingan. Do you know what it is and how to fix it? I fear if you don't, Hinata-sama might not wake up." Shisui 'looked' down and sighed. How could his little Imouto be so stupid as to try to fight to save him.

"Bring her to me. I want to feel her." Shisui said, his voice cracking with sadness. A nurse was going to protest but Aiko raised his hand to silence her. He picked up Hinata's small body and placed her in Shisui's awaiting arms. Eyes watched the pair. Shisui moved Hinata between his legs, one hand held her hand, and the other reached her hair. When Shisui started weeping, all of the eyes reverted away, just listening to the heartbreaking sounds of Shisui crying and apologizing repeatedly to his surrogate sister.

"Leave us and bring in Sasuke. I will tell you what you need to know tomorrow." Silence. Finally all of the people shuffled out of the room, leaving Shisui to hold Hinata.

The door to the room opened and Shisui tensed, until he recognized the chakra. Shisui listened to the slow shuffling of the feat moving in the room, then he heard a weak gasp.

Sasuke was told Shisui was alive, he felt a tiny glimmer of happiness in his broken heart. His Aniki, no longer deserving the name, killed everyone. Sasuke thought he was alone, but he's not. He still has Shisui, a figure like another brother for him, now his only brother. Sasuke got up and went right to the room Shisui was in but he wasn't prepared for what he saw. When he finally looked up from walking into the room he couldnt help but gasp. No way, was all Sasuke could think. Shisui's eyes were covered in bandages, he looked a little worse for wear, but he was ok. His mind clouded with anger when he saw Hinata. She was covered head to toe in bandages and paler than usual. Her glow was gone and she looked like a corpse. Of course Itachi would try to kill her, she was basically part of the family too.

"D-did _he _do this to you both?" Sasuke asked, barely able to spit out talking about Itachi.

"No mine was different, he did this to Hinata. I'm sorry, she fought to save me it's my fault." Shisui said, Sasuke noticed the brokenness in his voice.

"No its _his. _I will kill him for this." Unable to hold it in anymore, Sasuke broke his strong facade and cried. He ran to Shisui, careful of his Hinata, and clutched onto Shisui tightly. After all, he is a child. Shisui removed one hand from his sister and held onto Sasuke. Shisui knows they are too young for this trauma, what the hell was Itachi thinking.

"Shisui-nii I thought you were dead. They are all gone, Otousan, Okaasan, _he _killed them all. Why, why, why Shisui, I don't understand. I hate him. Why. I'm alone we're all alone." Sasuke cried out, sobbing in pure pain. Shisui was hurting inside, but he had to be strong for them.

"Shhh, Sasuke-chan. I don't know why. I don't know. You're not alone, you have me, you have Hinata-hime, I will never leave you alone." He soothed in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. Sasuke buried himself deeper into Shisui, grabbed Hinatas open hand cried himself to sleep, trying to forget the visions of Itachi killing his parents over and over. That night, while the three 'survivors' slept together, the news of the Massacre and the condition of Hinata spread throughout the Village Hidden In the Leaves. The few important people who took the situation the hardest were the parents of Hinata's friends. Hinata was a girl who had too much trauma for her kind heart. How would they tell their children about their best friend being in a coma and how the people that took care of her were brutally murdered. The one friend who wouldn't know until he finds out himself, Naruto Uzumaki.

The next morning, Aiko and Inoichi entered their hospital room. They were greeted with the sight of the three kids together sleeping. When their presence was sensed, Shisui woke up, careful not to wake Sasuke. The two men sat at their bedside and listened intently as Shisui explained what needed to be done. Sasuke woke up and was informed that they would be waking up Hinata. After a few hours of preparation, it was time. Shisui coated Hinata's mind in his chakra and allowed Inoichi to enter her mind. After pushing more and more of his Uchiha chakra into her mind, Inoichi was able to pass by the Sharingan blockade. Inoichi watched in unmasked horror of the scene of Hinata fighting Itachi with her life, Itachi used moves he's never seen, it was like a totall different person. Too shocked at the scene, Inoichi missed the slight glimmer of the memory, showing to be a fake. He watched in disgust as Itachi kissed Hinata deeply, telling her that he did it so she would always be tainted by a monster and will hate him for it, his little "fiance". Finally, because the memories were unlocked, Inoichi and Shisui were able to remove the block of Hinata's consciousness allowing for her to wake up when she wants to.

Stepping back out of Hinata's mind, Inoichi looked more shaken than normal. After disclosing every detail he saw, the older in the room noticing the hate in Sasuke at Itachi stealing a kiss from Hinata. Shisui tightened his grip on her, confused at the situation. It sounded wrong but he couldn't figure out the error. He knew Itachi had altered her memories, but of what and why was the question. Finally Inoichi left, Aiko did a checkup and healing session on the three kids, gave them food, and left them alone. Inoichi went to the meeting of the clan heads and Hokage and informed them of everything he saw.

Hinata did not wake for weeks, for all of that time, Sasuke and Shisui did not leave her side. Her friends came to visit as much as possible. Neji would bring Hanabi and Hanabi would tell her big sister all about her day playing with Uncle, Shikamaru would just sit by her side and play shoji by himself, Choji would tell her about Hydeoshi and the other children he visits, Kiba would tell her about all of the new shinobi tactics they learned in class, Shino visited less often but he would show the new bugs he's discovered, and Naruto would tell her about everything he does, especially trying out new ramen flavors. It was at night and Neji and Hanabi were getting ready to leave, Hanabi was telling her sister goodbye, when Hinata's lavender eyes opened for the first time in weeks, everyone in the room stopped and looked at Hinata, noticing the dull look in her usually vibrant and expressive eyes.

_(Hinata POV)_

I felt a relief on my mind after my encounter with Itachi. For a while it was like I was trapped within myself and I couldn't see or feel anything. Finally, the darkness receded and I felt an immense pressure, then I was just floating around watching Itachi and I fight over and over. It was weird, for all of the times we've fought, he's never used any techniques, they remind me of Obito. I also remembered the kiss, what it was about I dont know, I do know that it made me feel relaxed and happy, unlike after when he told me it was just out of spite. Did he really mean that? Going through the memory over and over, it felt weird, like I was watching a movie, not something I actually went through. After accepting the memories, it hit me. The massacre happened, I was successful in my goal to save Shisui but my heart hurt. I let all of those people die, even though I had to, it hurt to know that I'm just as much to blame for Mikoto and Fugaku's death as Itachi is. The whole time in my mindscape, I went through different stages. Grief, regret, guilt, anger, sadness, numbness, and then finally acceptance of the situation. Even if I let a clan die, I saved Shisui and most likely all of Konoha.

My whole plan for the Uchiha massacre was difficult and I went over it many times, trying to find a way around the massacre, but every time, I knew it was impossible because of Danzo and the coup. I knew that no matter what, that asshole Danzo had more power than I so I couldn't fight him head on or on the council, and I also could not let the coup de ta happen because it would cause more harm to the entire Shinobi world than if I let the massacre happen. Instead of stopping it, I planned to save Shisui from his suicide, hopefully him being alive and my involvement in his life will help Sasuke feel less alone. Shisui is the only person and he is so loyal to the village, he wouldn't have partaken in the coup. Letting the Uchiha take over Konoha would do damage that would be 10 times worse than anything a vengeful Sasuke could have, it would end the leaf village completly. As much as I love my Uchiha family, it was impossible to stop the massacre and the coup, so to save everyone, I had to let it happen. That didn't help with the guilt I felt for letting so many die.

When I finally reached acceptance and a type of happiness at succeeding in the next stage of changing the outcomes of this timeline, I could feel myself slip from the mindscape. After feeling myself slipping away, my senses felt similar to being underwater. Everything was groggy. I could hear the voice of Hanabi saying goodbye to me, it was muffled but I could make it out. Hanabi, I haven't seen her in a while, I pushed myself and even though it took more effort than necessary I opened my eyes and stayed there waiting for any feeling to come back. There were some gasps and an excited squeal from Hanabi, I think, and my senses finally began to return. With that though, I felt a lot of pain in my head, like an ax was hacking away at my skull.

I let out a groan of pain and brought my hands to my head, it hurt and my joints felt stiff, but I clutcehd at my head. Suddenly, a set of hands were pulling mine away from my head. My vision cleared fully and I was met with three sets of eyes and one Shisui. Neji was holding my hands away from my face, his normal impassive face contorted with worry, Shisui was smiling his grin even if it was strained, Sasuke looked relieved but the light in his eyes were dimmed significantly, and Hanabi had a large adorable smile on her face, making me want to smile at her too. She ran from by the door and jumped on me hugging me tightly. I winced and squeaked in pain, but wrapped my arms around her holding her.

"Neechan you up, you been seeping forever! I mwissed you, Neji isn't as much fun as you." Hanabi said to me with a slight happy pout. I giggled a bit at her and patted her head.

"I promise not to sleep so long again. I missed you too Hime, sorry you had to be stuck with the boring destiny boy." She giggled and forgave me but was ripped off of me by Neji, who scolded her for hurting me. Neji cocked his brow in a silent asking me if I'm ok. I smiled slightly and nodded. He kissed my forehead and said goodbye, leaving with a squirming Hanabi. I was left with the last 2 Uchiha and my smile faded. I looked to Sasuke and he looked so distraut. I coughed, about to speak up, but was beat to the punch when Sasuke was suddenly holding me crying.

"You're ok, you're alive. I thought you weren't going to wake up. How could you almost leave me like that, like _them._ _He _did this to you. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. They are all gone, but you, you and Shisui are still here. You're ok, I promise I won't ever let him or anyone hurt you like that again. I love you, He'll never touch you again." Sasuke mumbled into my hair, holding me close. Damn it, at least it seems like my involvement and Shisui's involvement have so far made him not a raging revenge driven psychopath, he just seems to hate Itachi, something I have to change. I leaned into Sasuke's comforting embrace a little more. Sasuke picked me up and moved me into Shisui's awaiting arms. He gave me a hug, then proceeded to slap me across the face, stunning Sasuke and I.

"You IDIOT! Why would you try to fight someone so much stronger, why would you put yourself at risk not once but TWICE to save me. What happens if you were killed huh, what would everyone do. You're an Idiot, I'm your big brother, I'm supposed to protect you but you protected me, dammit Hinata. You were so close to dying, you wouldn't wake up even when you should have. We were so worried. Why'd you do it?" He ranted at me. He tried to sound angry, but I could tell it was coming from his love for me. Before he could continue, I hugged him tightly,

"I love you both so much. I did it because I love you, and I'd do it over and over. Stop worrying about me, I'm fine now, I'm alive and safe, you are alive and safe. Thats all that matters." After my coaxing them to believe I was ok, and some help from the doctors, they stopped treating me like I was fragile. We talked about everything that happened, it really was a difficult thing to do. I also had to speak with a Psychiatrist since I woke up, and they were surprised at how I handled the news. I explained how I went through the issues in my mind the whole time and that I now use that as motivation to be stronger to protect the ones I love better.

I was told I'd be a perfect ninja with that attitude. It's not like the massacre doesn't still hurt, I just look towards the positives now instead of the negatives, if I do it will cripple me. Sasuke was also handling it better, he still hates Itachi and wants to kill him, but more so he said he wants to protect Shisui and I. I guess with the Uchiha curse of hatred, his love for Shisui and I is so far stronger than his hate for Itachi. Shisui was also discharged as a shinobi for being blind and is now going to be an academy instructor. I'm determined to find him some eyes and transplant them so he can see, like Kakashi and Obito did with the Sharingan.

After another week at the hospital, I was going stir crazy. Sasuke was discharged and was able to go to the academy during the day, he still slept with me at night, Hanabi came to hang out during the day with Hizashi sometimes which was fun, but it still sucked. The best part was having my friends and their families come. They were so happy to see me awake and thankfully informed me of all of the gossip I missed. Finally, after a few more weeks, Shisui and I were discharged.

I left the hospital and Sasuke led me to his and Shisui's new home. I couldn't blame him fro not wanting to live in the Uchiha compound, too many memories. His home was beautiful, it was a traditional style home with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a small kitchen, and a living room. The home wasn't decorated much, there were beige walls with the Uchiha crest around a few areas and some furniture, but there was no pictures or reminders of his family at all. Shisui and I made Sasuke cook for us, he made basically a tomato salad, it wasn't the best, but it was way better than the crappy hospital food I've been eating for a month.

The biggest thing I noticed over my time of recovering was Sasuke became lass talkative and way more stoic. He still showed me smiles and was sometimes like the Sasuke I know and love, but when he's around other people, he's the brooding bastard he was in the show. We led Shisui to the shower, and I Decided that I wasn't feeling like going home yet. After I was released, the Hokage met with me and informed me I would be moving back into the Hyuuga compound with my father. It's been so long, I don't know what to think or do about seeing him again, honestly I'm scared he will hate me.

"Duckbutt, can I sleep here tonight." He turned his head and shrugged, trying to hide the small smile since I want to stay with him. I know he's afraid that when I leave I wont come back, but he's so wrong.

"Hn." I mock glared at his stupid answer.

"Damnit Uchiha, Hn is not a word." When he smirked I realized he was just teasing me, trying to rile me up. Since he is still young, when he saw my pout, he lost it and let out one of his laughs I've missed hearing. I began to laugh too. Shisui walked out of the bathroom and was greeted with the sound of us rolling on the floor laughing and play fighting. He broke it up and after we helped him into his bed, he sent us to shower and go to bed. We obeyed like the obedient children we are and went to sleep in Shisui's bed, each of us laying on a side of him.


	8. My Sensei: Our version of the bell test

I woke up slightly weary of today. Shisui knew right away, and began to try to calm my nerves.

"Don't worry about going home, they fixed it, everything will be ok."

"Yeah, I'm just scared, what if he hates me. I want him and Hanabi to be close, what if nothing's changed." Sasuke walked in as I finished my statement and we both halted our conversation. He looked between us, but decided to ignore the tension.

"Lets go, I'll take you home. Shisui-nii stay here and wait for me if you need help please." Little Sasuke commanded. Shisui nodded and grinned widely giving a thumbs up.

"Hai Sasu-chan. I'll wait for you to take care of me." He teased. "Bye Imouto, everything will be ok, I'll see you later. Get it, _see _you later." I groaned at his joke on himself but couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt when he reminded us he was blind.

"Lame joke Shisui-nii." I kissed his cheek and left to the home I've avoided for so long. I walked through the compound greeting the people as I moved through. They bowed to me out of respect and welcomed me back. Each step I took, my nerves filled my body more. I fidgeted with the end of my shirt and tried to keep a brave face. I made it to the branch area and picked up Hanabi. We walked together for the final stretch.

"Nee-chan I'm going to see Otousan. Do wou think he will wike my dress?" She looked up at me with her innocent lavender eyes and her round face was full of hope.

"Hai. He is going to love your dress even if he doesn't say it. You look beautiful hime, so much like mother." I said patting her brown hair with a smile that I hope covered up my uncertainty. She beamed up at me and began to skip to our house. We rounded the corner and waiting at the front was father. I stood there, his gaze was on Hanabi until our eyes met and we stared each other down. I saw the slight grimace, and carefully analized his eyes. First sign of trouble and I'll make Hanabi leave. I looked into his eyes as he looked into mine, instead of the pain and disgust I saw after mother's death, his eyes filled with different emotions: guilt, sorrow, pain, love, and so many more. Knowing he no longer hated the sight of Hanabi, and wasn't going to hurt me, I let go of Hanabi's hand and ran towards father, tears stinging my eyes. Before he could even register what was happening, I was in his arms clinging to him as I cried in happiness. He tucked his head into my shoulder and breathed in.

"Hinata-hime I am sorry. I am so sorry. I'm a terrible father, forgive me. I just wanted you to be strong so you wouldn't end up like her. I'm sorry." He whispered to me. I clung tighter, his large body holding mine tightly.

"It's ok daddy, I'm not mad. I forgive you." He put me down and relief washed over him. "But there is somebody else that you have to speak with." He looked back towards Hanabi's small 2 year old self. He looked pained to see her, but I could see the love he has for her too. I nodded to Hanabi and made a motion for her to come here. I could see the skip in her step as she came over. Using all of the lessons from Mikoto, she was perfect mannered. She bowed and smiled.

"Hello Otou-sama, I'm Hanabi. I'm happy to mweet you." He looked pleased with her manners and he gave me a look of surprise, knowing I was and never will be the perfect lady like she is already becoming. He put a hand on her head.

"Rise daughter. We are going to eat and I will get to know you." Hanabi smiled at him brightly and we both could see so much of mom in her. Instead of being sad though, father felt happy that his daughter could be so much like the woman he loved. Unknown to me, he decided Hanabi would be the princess of our family, she is not a prodigy so she will not be forced into the same type of training I was, instead will be groomed to be a proper woman. All of the stress I felt was gone and I felt happier than I have in years. My family is together for the first time, my sister is growing up to be such a kind yet proper woman and my father is finally back to his cold and loving self. **(AN: Hanabi is going to be different b/c if Hinata was different and the family dynamic is different, she will be too. Also being with the woman of women Mikoto made her more of a girly lady kunoichi than a full out ninja like Hinata is going to be)**

After spending the previous day with my family, I was able to return to the academy. I've missed almost 2 months, but since I could have graduated based on skill already, nobody thought to hold me back or get me a tutor.

I walked into the classroom and all of the student's there had their eyes turned to me in surprise at my sudden return. Whispers went around about what happened to me and many of the student's looked to me in pity, a look I hated. Iruka-sensei welcomed me back, his eyes were full of understanding and respect instead of pity. I gave him a smile, we are on better terms since Naruto told me he took him for ramen. I was going to make my way to the back of the class when I was tackled to the ground with the sound of a boisterous "Hinata-chan you're back dattebayo" from my favorite fox-boy. I couldn't help but laugh at the welcome, it made me feel a bit more whole being back here with my friends, not stuck in a hospital.

"Damn straight I am. Now get the off me blondie, you're heavy." Naruto was not so kindly kicked off of me by Kiba. He ignored Naruto's shout as he hit the ground and hoisted me into the air.

"Finally, Akamaru's missed you in class, it's boring with only the blonde idiot as entertainment." I reached my hand up and pet Akamaru cooing at him. Iruka-sensei cleared his throat making us walk to our seats, on my way I gave a quick hug to Shika, making him call me troublesome. I made it to my seat and said hi to Sasuke. Trying to keep his jerk face act, he just gave me a "Hn" but scooted his chair closer to mine. The physical training part of class today was sparring. I was picked to spar against Kiba, Sasuke and Naruto sparred against each other. It was a murder, Sasuke fought with a ferocity I've never seen him use before.

He demolished Naruto, who was holding back, but still it wasn't pretty. When it was my turn for a spar, I lined up across from Kiba and ended it in two moves, when I wanted to fight, I couldn't help but think of losing to Itachi and I didn't want our spar to last any more so I finished it before running away. I sat in the corner of the classroom and tried to catch my breath, instead i kept getting flashes of the kunai stabbing me into the wall. I didn't notice, but it really was traumatizing when I almost died again, and this time it was by someone I cared about. I was hyperventelating when the classroom door opened and Sasuke walked in. He ran right up to me and held me helping me calm down by whispering "It's ok" in my ear. I felt my breathing slowing down and the rest of the boys along with Iruka-sensei, who left Mizuki with his class, came in. They came over to me and huddled around me. Naruto grabbed one of my hands and Shika sat next to me watching me closely.

"Are you ok Hinata-san? Do you want to talk with me about it?" Iruka-sensei said in a gentle and worried tone. I looked up at him and grinned.

"Sorry about that Iruka-sensei, I'm fine, it was just a small freak out. I'm good now." SHikamaru slapped my head.

"Don't lie to us, you had a panic attack, you were afraid the question is why." I hung my head in shame of being such a weak person. If I cant spar, whats to say I'll become a ninja at all.

"It's fine Hinata-chan, we all are scared of stuff. I'll help you get over your fear. Can't have one of my rivals be too weak to fight me dattebayo." NAruto gave me a big hug, pushing Sasuke away from me. I giggled at the glares they were sharing.

"Before the class comes back, talking about why you were so afraid will help you get over it. You can tell us." Iruka-sensei said, talking to me like a fragile doll. Damn it, I have to get over this.

"Yeah Hinata-chan, I'm here to listen" Choji said. I got a chorus of "yeah's" so I decided to tell them everything. It was dead silent when I finished my story. Everyone except Sasuke was looking at me wide eyed. Iruka-sensei kicked everyone out, they all gave me various hugs for goodbye, and it was just us left.

"Hinata-chan, you have been through a lot of trauma for such a young girl, your parents and now this. After school, Lady Seiko and I are going to work with you to move past this. You are a strong girl and will be a great Kunoichi. I'm not going to let this hold you back." I jumped up and gave Iruka-sensei a big hug.

I finally made it to Kunoichi class and I'm so excited. I haven't got to talk to Lady Seiko in a while and as much as I hate the girly stuff, she is pretty cool. Plus I want her to teach me how to be so intimidating.

"Lady Seiko I'm baackkk!" I shouted running up to her to hug her. She put her hand out and I stopped right before I hugged her. She knelt down and gave me a hug instead of letting me squeeze the life out of her.

"It is a pleasure to see you up and running again Hinata-chan. I have spoken with Iruka-san and we will be working together as more than just you being my have a lot to work on." She said in perfect elegance.

"It's alright, I'm glad you'll be there to help." She gave me a smile and started class. We worked on flexibility and proper bows. At the end of class, Lady Seiko gave me a large book full of what I missed, as homework I have to study and work through all of it until I have it down successfully. She will meet with me once a week for 3 hours to make sure I get everything done right. Iruka-sensei came over and together they talked with me. They made me imagine the attack and go over it each time, then made me recreate the moves and a bunch of other stuff. We did this for a few months until I finally stopped panicking when I had to fight. It took a while, and a lot of support from everyone who knew, but I finally conquered my fears.

When I was over my fear, I began my hardcore physical training regime. My chakra is around a high Chunin now, possible a new Jounin, no where near Naruto's Kyuubi chakra, but still large. Being a prodigy and training with some of the best, my skills have improved. With chakra and jutsu my skills are around a low Chunin, my taijutsu is at Jounin leve, but with help from my father, Lady Seiko, and Kakashi I will hopefully grow become a master. I kept up my mental studies and theories, I also kept training Naruto to the best of my abilities. We've been working on teamwork and combo attacks as well as his speed. He's really talented at fuinjutsu and I've taught him everything I could from the books. Hopefully somebody like Kakashi will help him before he meets Jiraiya. He's also really good with his chakra now. He will NEVER have good chakra control, but with training, he's finally figured out how to climb trees and walk on water.

He can do some jutsu, still no regular clones though, he puts way too much chakra into one and I don't know how to fix it, and we know his wind affinity, so we snuck into watching Asuma train and after begging and a promise to prank the Hokage again, he explained the basics to Naruto and taugh him the "Great Breakthrough"a basic wind technique. He's still the deadlast which is always fun to watch him fake lose a fight. The reactions of everyone when he passes is going to be priceless. I trained with Sasuke too, Shisui told us training to do and we did it. Sasuke has learned more fire techniques in honor of his family and knows one lightning jutsu and we are in the process of combining my water whips with his lightning to make a combo jutsu. We also worked on out teamwork, since we've trained since we were young, it was pretty spot on. I hold back with them since it's not fair I'm stronger, but when it comes down to it I will take over if needed. Since I'm pretty sure we're going to be on a team together, if we already know the basics of what Kakashi would teach us, hopefully he'll be forced to actually teach us something other than teamwork.

Shika Choji and I also hung out a lot at our secret spot. When I wasn't training myself to the ground we would sit and watch the clouds enjoying our time together. Kiba and I spent time playing with Akamaru. Akamaru is a wild dog, but he's so loving to Kiba, truly the perfect best friend. Shino and I looked for bugs sometimes. He's pretty cool just really reserved. Neji and I trained together a lot, we were both working on how to do palm rotation since he graduates in a year and decided he needs to know how to use more of our clan techniques. Hanabi starts the academy soon and she is the perfect clan princess, not like my brash and wild self. She's well mannered, kind, quiet the elders love her. I love her too, its nice to be able to practice dressing her up properly. She's also started training, she reminds me more of the canon Hinata, just without the stuttering and shyness. I guess since I was so different, the universe made up for the lack of 'Hinata' by making Hanabi more like her. Shisui has finally gottten used to his blindness through my, Sasuke, and some of his friends help.

I've been looking into eye transplants and think, with the help of Lady Tsunade, we can give him his eyesight back, no Sharingan but still eyesight. Father and I have also been training together, he let me know he knows about my special fighting style and has been helping me further it, as well as training me better in the clan styles. I have made it up to 32 palms in the trigram. It took a lot of work, but its been nice to have my dad train with me again. With Lady Seiko, I finally learned how to do my own hair and walk in heels without falling. My training outfit she's designing for me is going to have heeled shoes to make my kicks do more damage or something along those lines. Sakura and Ino still hate me since I'm even closer to Sasuke than before, not that he purposely shows it at school, he just tolerates my presence and doesn't tolerate theirs. With the other guys though, Sasuke is super weird and possessive of me. It's sweet but super annoying too, when I leave to eat lunch with Shikamaru or something, Sasuke is always close, he thinks he's sneaky but he's not. The whole Uchiha love and hate obsession thing is starting to show in Sasuke, its not a bad thing that he cares about me so much, but I hope that if I fall in love with somebody, he doesn't go crazy on them.

Neji graduated today and I'm so excited for tomorrow. It might be the best day of my life, I get to meet Rock Lee, Tenten who I think will be my best (and only) female friend, and Gai who is amazing in so many ways. I also can't wait to see how the ever stoic and arrogant Neji deals with his team. Neji may love me, but he is still an arrogant prick to everyone else especially with his destiny crap. I can't wait for him to have to deal with Lee and Gai, he gets annoyed with my talkative and hyper nature, he's going lose it when he has to deal with them. Lee isn't a Gai clone yet, but he will be soon!

I was waiting outside of the school for Neji to come out with his team, I probably shouldn't join in on them meeting but I can't resist. Finally I saw a man clad in the most horrendous green jumpsuit burst through the front doors. His three Genin were trailing behind him. Lee, who looked so amazed by Gai; Tenten (she's so pretty), who looked confused and a bit scared; and Neji, who looked ready to murder them all. Neji saw me and walked over, when he saw my smirk, he slowed down his steps looking ready to hurt me at my mocking smirk. His team stopped and Gai shouted for them to follow Neji-kun and see the youthful person he is talking to. I let my smirk grow, Neji glowered in annoyance.

"Soo Niisan, care to introduce me to this interesting team you have."

"No, they are not worth your time Hime, they are destined to fail." Lee and Tenten looked down at that and Gai didn't even look shocked. He must have known beforehand what Neji is like. I punched Neji out of love, and slight annoyance, making him stumble a bit. It was mainly to show him, he's not the greatest though.

"Cut the destiny crap, I want to meet your team please Niisan." I whined.

"Nii-san? I didn't know you had a sister Neji-kun." Tenten said sweetly.

"She's not." He replied coldly.

"Nope, I'm his cousin, but he's like my Niisan. Either way, I'm Hinata Hyuuga. I'm really excited to meet Neji's teammates." I turned to Gai with sparkles in my eyes. i'm totally a Gai fangirl, in the way that he is so weird and strong. "You are Might Gai, taijustu master. I am honored to meet you, you are so cool and such a badass, I want to be a master ninja as good, if not better than you! It's so cool you're training Niisan, maybe with your help he'll finally be able to beat me." Gai gave me a thumb's up and his smile, his teeth really do sparkle.

"You are so YOUTHFUL Hinata-chan! I will train my students until they are as full of youth as you are." I giggled and fist pumped.

"Thank you for the compliment Gai-sama." Tenten and Lee looked at me incredulously, Neji looked at me like I was an idiot, a look he gives me too often. "So who are you guys?" Lee stepped forward and bowed to me.

"I am Rock Lee, I cannot use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, so I will train to be a master in Taijustu." He said in a quiet subdued voice. He's pretty shy, I can't wait until he becomes such a dorky badass.

"Nice to meet you Lee, I bet with Gai-sama's help you'll do just that!" He smiled a bit wider and seemed happy I wasn't mean to him. Tenten gave me a smile and adjusted the scroll on her back.

"I am Tenten, I am a master at weaponry and can use any weapon given to me."

"That is so awesome! You seem really cool, I'm glad you are already a badass instead of a whiny fangirl like other academy girls I've met." She laughed at me, I know this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

"You too." Leaving them for their actual team introductions, I bid farewell and went to visit Shisui before going off to train with father.

* * *

Today is the day before the graduation exams. I woke up extra early, put my waist length hair into a french braid, and got dressed. I grabbed my ninja pouch and made sure I had the seals Naruto made for me in my bag. I ate a quick bowl of rice for breakfast, making sure I was quiet so I didn't wake dad or Hanabi up, then I left and I ran across the rooftops until I made it to Naru's small apartment and when I went inside, I was surprised he was already finished getting ready and was eating his ramen for breakfast.

He looked up from his ramen and gave me a shit-eating foxy grin. He planned the prank to end all pranks, and with a little help from me, we are going to execute it and not get caught. Naruto grabbed his god awful orange jacket and we were off. I turned on my Byakugan to watch for any ninjas on patrol, and with the stealth Naruto taught me, we made it to the Hokage monument unseen. Putting chakra into our feet, we climbed up the monument and sat atop the 4th's head.

"Hinata-chan did you bring the seals?" Naruto asked, his whole aura glowing in excitement and mischievousness.

"Of course!" I took them out and laid all 4 on the grass in front of us. Naruto explained how I needed to set the last 4 seals after he does his. We kept trying to keep quiet, but were giggling the whole time as he explained it to me. He's really grown in seals, its crazy.

"This is going to be the best prank ever! Then all the villagers will finally notice me dattebayo!" I still hate some of the villagers for their small minds, but anything I can do to help Naruto is worth it. If it means pulling awesome pranks, so be it.

"Hell yeah they will!" We high fived and got to work. Naruto drew his seals he's been working on, on each of the Hokage's faces and inserted his chakra to make them ready for him to activate them. I carefully laid each of the seal papers he made me and put my chakra into each of them. We made our way to the bottom of the monument, put our hands in the ram seal and sent out a flair of chakra to activate the seals. It was the most amazing sight and I was rolling on the floor laughing.

Each face on the Hokage monument changed the faces of the 4 Hokage's to having Naruto's face on each of them. Not just that, each face was in full color to match Naruto's face and our names were signed across the bottom of the faces as a tribute to our work. Naruto's seal made the illusion of his face instead of the other Hokages. My seal was the seal for all of the colors. I gave him the idea based on how he wanted to paint their faces, and he executed it perfectly, plus this time its easy clean up for us.

I heard the spluttered gasps of the ninja around us, and one ninja yelled louder than I thought possible:

"The demon boy and Hyuuga girl ruined the Hokage Monument!" Naruto and I shared a look and ran to the academy, laughing all the way there. We rushed into out classroom and fell to the ground still laughing. After a second, I got back up and looked around at the annoyed looks of my classmates.

"Choji where's Iruka-sensei" I asked confused on why he's gone right at the start of class. Choji continued munching on his chips and responded.

"He's outside looking for you two. Some chunin came running in shouting about you guys." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and laughed.

"Oh haha, he'd never be able to catch us."

"What'd you do that was so troublesome this time?" Shika asked looking bored trying to hide his interest at what we did.

"Look outside at the monument!" Naruto and I shouted at the same time. Everyone, even the girls who hate us, got out of their seats to look at the monument. Most of the people gasped, Kiba and a few others let out loud laughs.

"That is a new level for you guys, who knew the deadlast could do something so smart." Kiba laughed out. Most of my friends just shook their heads in amusement at Naru and I, even the emo duckbutt looked amused. Some of the girls shouted that we were idiots and worthless troublemakers but we ignored them and sat in our seats. Iruka-sensei came barreling through the door and damn did he look pissed. His face was red with anger as his wild eyes looked around the classroom. When his eyes stopped on us, he looked ready to burst.

"Are you CRAZY? Because of both of your insubordinance, we are going to practice the transformation jutsu AGAIN!" Iruka yelled at us, if he wasn't such a teddybear, he might have been scary. We all rushed into line, Sakura was first of course, the kiss up. She transformed into a copy of what would pass as Iruka.

"Did you see that Sasuke-kun?" She squealed at him, he just ignored her. Sasuke went up next and transformed into a perfect replica of Iruka. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and smirked at me in a silent competition. All of the girls of course thought it was for them and squealed. I went next and transformed into Gai, giving his signature pose and everything. Iruka flinched but said my transformation was perfect, too perfect.

I laughed and went to my seat, ready for the show that Naruto always provides me with. I put my elbows on the table and rested my head in my hands. Naruto made the handsigns and yelled transform. Chakra surrounded him, and then he was there, but an older, pretty, naked, and female version of himself with cute long blond pigtails. Blood dripped from Iruka's nose and he passed out. Most of the girls looked disgusted and the guys were either nursing nosebleeds or shaking their heads. I was laughing along with Naruto though.

"Damn, who knew Iruka-sensei was such a pervert." I said, receiving a glare in return from said man.

Finally class was over and I had my final lesson in Kunoichi classes, as well as my final private lesson with Lady Seiko. She told me that I can always go to her though, we have strong bond. She taught me everything I needed to know about using special tricks as a woman to my use. She also taught me more about water justu. This last year we specifically studied seduction, a tool special Kunoichi use, and since she said I'd be good at it, we learned it. It was pretty a easy thing for me to learn, its all about sex, and though I'm a kid, my body is more developed (I think thats why she wears such big coats), and I wont need it until I'm closer to 15 (Which is a legal adult), plus my mind is old enough to understand everything.

It's actually pretty useful being a girl as a ninja, there are so many ways to get information. Im not regal or womanly, my grace is on the battle field, but everything she has taught me has made me a perfect woman weapon basically. I still cant do most of the housewifey stuff, but Lady Seiko doesn't care, she decided to train Hanabi in that kind of stuff. She used me for the physical aspects of everything. I love her and am so thankful for her to have trained me.

The graduation test itself was so easy, we took a written exam and a physical exam. I passed with flying colors, when I got my Hitai-ate, I tied it around my forehead like a proper ninja. At the end of class I walked outside, I saw Naruto sitting on his swing trying not to cry. As horrible as it is, I'm glad he didn't pass. What happens between him, Iruka, and Mizuki needs to happen. I gave him a small hug and hid myself waiting for Naru to steal the sacred scroll. When he finally succeeded in stealing the scroll, I put my plan into action. Shisui and I have been planning this for a long time.

I swung by one of the secluded training grounds and found Sasuke running through his katas.

"Oi Sasuke, come on lets go home, Shisui-nii and I have something important to tell you." Sasuke looked at me, suspicion written all over his face.

"You never call me by my name."

"Oh uuh, yeah well whatever lets go."

"Hn" I jumped away and headed towards their house, Sasuke in tow. Shisui, Sasuke, and I were sitting around the tea table, drinking tea, basking in the tension I love so much, not.

"Sasu-chan, there's something you need to know about the massacre. Hinata and I have been digging and we finally found what we needed to know, so it's time to tell you. The Massacre of our clan wasn't Itachi's fault. It was because of the clan planning a coup."

"How dare you speak his name, don't try to reason with why he did what he did. He's evil and theres nothing left of him but that." Sasuke was fuming, I rarely see him yell and it was so hard to watch him be so angry and in pain from even thinking about it. I stood and pushed him to sit back down. He was glaring the most vicious look I've seen. Taking his silence, I continued.

"When Shisui was blinded it was because of a man named Danzo Shimura. He is one of the elders of the village and holds power over the council, second only to the Hokage. Danzo is a lowlife scum and he doesn't take threats lightly. The Uchiha clan was planning a coup, like Shishi said. They planned on taking control of the leaf village, killing whoever necessary to do it. There were ways to stop it, thats what Shisui was working on. Danzo on the other hand didn't believe that so he forced Itachi to execute the clan, saying if he didn't Danzo would kill everyone including you. I've been trying to find out the truth of the massacre with Shisui and we did, now it's up to us to stop Danzo." Sasuke looked stunned. We all sat in silence for a while before I heard sniffing. I looked at Sasuke and he had tears pouring down his face. He stood up and flipped the table.

"Aghhh, everything I thought was wrong, I hated him, he made me hate him, now its all a lie. That bastard Danzo is going to suffer even if it's the last thing I do. We're going to find Itachi and bring him back." Sasuke was crying harder now, when he talked about Danzo I could feel the hate radiating off of him. I stood up and wrapped my arms around Sasuke. He slumped to the floor, holding on to me tightly as he cried.

"We'll do it together, all three of us." Shisui said. I continued to hold the shell shcoked Sasuke. I knew this news would hurt him, but at least he knows he has his brother. Now I can aslo protect him from Orochimaru since he wont have the same drive for power so he can hunt and kill Itachi.

"We're going to take that fucker down, we'll take him down from the inside and then show everyone who he really is." I said, I got nods in return. Sasuke finally calmed down and we ate dinner together, talking about possible teams.

I got up this morning giddy and nervous. I hope that I'll be on team 7, none of the events seem to truly be a fixed event, so hopefully me ending as top student and top female will put me on the same team as Sasuke and the 'deadlast' Naruto. Plus Sakura would be a better fit for her, then maybe she can use her control to become a Genjutsu master and stop obsessing over Sasuke. I got dressed and since we wont be training today, I left my hair down and at its slight curl. I decided to officially put on one of my gifts from Lady Seiko. Her final gifts to me were the new outfits she's been designing for me, one is for now, and one is for when I'm older. As much of a tomboy I am, spending time with her, I've grown to love some girl stuff. I like looking pretty as long as it's not girly if that makes sense.

Either way, she made me the perfect outfits. The one I wear now has a tight-ish lavender kimono top with a dark purple obi that has protective plates in it to guard my abdomen. I also have matching dark purple shorts to go under the kimono. Then I have transparent lavender thigh high stockings and knee-high high heeled dark purple combat boots. To go along with it, I put on my gloves from Sasuke, strapped my daggers to my back, and attached my weapons holster around my thigh. Now that I'm a real ninja, no more baggy t-shirts or kimonos, it was time for a real ninja look.

I looked badass and hot. I finally truly felt like a kickass female.

I walked down the stairs to say goodbye to my dad, Hanabi already left for the academy. He gave me a once over and said my outfit was well fit for a ninja like myself. We had a silent breakfast together and he wished me luck on my team. I got up, put my bowl in the sink, and headed to the academy. I slammed the door open and strutted into the classroom, carrying myself with the confidence and deadly authority Lady Seiko taught me. I want people to see me as the mischievous fun person, but also a force to be reckoned with. (A/N who doesn't want to just slam open the door and announce your presence, I do it all the time, but not on purpose. I have a bad habit of opening and closing doors way too hard.) At my super dramatic entrance everyone's eyes turned to me and I tried so hard not to laugh when people's jaws fell open at my new look. There were a few jealous looks from the girls and I finally started laughing. damn, there goes my deadly aura.

"Damn Hinata, who knew you were such a hot girl." Kiba said with a smirk.

"Damn dog boy, who let you go without your muzzle." I said giving him a shit-eating grin Shisui helped me perfect. We had a stare down, then busted out laughing. I walked past him and to Naruto.

"Blondie, you passed! I knew you could do it. You'll have to tell me how later." I said, truly happy he passed. He looked happy when I said congrats, but I noticed as I told him to tell me how, worry and sadness passed across his face before he covered it up with a smile.

"I'm just that awesome dattebayo." We fist bumped and I sat in between him and Sasuke, who were sending each other glares. There were loud footsteps and yelling coming to the door. I hit my head on the desk and mumbled.

"They're coming for you Sasuke." He grunted in annoyance. The door slammed open, harder than when I did it and tumbling in came Ino and Sakura.

"I'M FIRST!" They shouted at the same time, still shoving each other's face.

"NO YOU'RE NOT I AM!" they continued to argue about the centimeter that was between them until finally they looked up and saw Sasuke. Sparkles showed up in their eyes and they started walking over here. I looked to Naruto and his face lit up. He shot out of his chair and wildly waved his arm around with a smile, thinking Sakura was looking at him. No matter how hard I try, I'll never understand his crush on her, she's a bitch to him and he's blind to it.

"Hi Sakura-chan!" Naruto said to her as she approached him. Instead of responding kindly, she shoved him out of the way.

"Move dumbass." She then turned back to Sasuke, putting on a horrible act of a cutesy and seductive face. "Hi Sasuke-kun. Can I sit next to you?" That last phrase all hell broke loose. All of the girls, and a few boys surprisingly, began to argue about who gets to sit next to Sasuke, completely oblivious to me I guess. The moment I've waited my life to see in person finally arrived. Naruto was so annoyed with Sakura loving on Sasuke so he crouched on the desk putting his face way too close to Sasuke. They glared at one another, sparks flying between them, and then, *Smack.* The boy in front of Naruto leaned back and moved Naru off balance, pushing him into Sasuke's awaiting lips. I watched in joy as their lips connected and they looked each other in the eyes, stunned. After a good few seconds, they pushed off of one another and began choking.

"Wow, I didn't know both of you swung that way. I guess you make a cute couple." I said laughing my ass off, Kiba and a few other boys were snickering, Shika was mumbling troublesome while smirking, everyone else was just stunned.

"SASUKE-KUN'S/I'M NOT GAY!" They shouted simultaneously. I just love riling them up to yell. A killer intent stronger than one I've ever felt permeated the room. I turned my head and saw the evil looks on all of the girls faces, all directed at Naruto. He sensed the danger and began inching away.

"Oh Fuck." I said to Sasuke. He just continued to glare at the wall for calling him gay.

"Narutooooo!" The demon fangirls chorused while cracking their knuckles ready to attack. Right as Sakura raised her fist, bringing it down onto Naruto, I flashed in front of them and grabbed her hand. Releasing some of my KI I stared them down.

"Don't. Touch. Naruto." I said in a low growl. Some of the girls backed off, but a few (Sakura Ino Ami) stayed. I released sakura's hand, but punched her into the wall. I felt a pang of guilt for hurting my former friend, but until she wants to be friends again, I will treat her like anyone else who tries to hurt Naruto. He can defend himself just fine, but he refuses to hit Sakura so I knew he wouldn't do anything to protect himself. "Unless you want the same treatment as Sakura, stand down and leave Naruto alone. It was an accident." They nodded in slight fear and went to their seats. Finallt Iruka-sensei walked in and gave us a speech about teamwork and our start as Genin.

"Team 7..." I tensed up, nervous about the upcoming team placements. "Naruto Uzumaki... Hinata Hyuuga... and Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto and I cheered, fist bumping at our successful planning and Sasuke gave me a small smile at actually being on a team. I was elated, this will be perfect to continuing my goals, plus I get a hottie as a Sensei. "Team 8, Kiba Inuzuka, Sakura Haruno, and Shino Aburame... Team 10, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi." Iruka finished team calling and then Naruto finally realized his final teammate and stood up in the most dramatic Naruto fashion, pointing at Sasuke. "What the hell, why does an awesome Shinobi like me have to team up with a slug like Sasuke-teme!" Iruka looked at him pointedly.

"Well, Sasuke had some of the highest test scores, while you Naruto, had the lowest. We put the best with the worst." Wow, Iruka has no chill and does not sugarcoat. Too bad Naruto actually isn't the worst, he'll show everyone soon how good he really is.

"Hn. Dobe." Sasuke said with an arrogant smirk. Naruto whipped his head to Sasuke glowering.

"What was that Teme?" Diffusing the situation before they could fight like they always do, Iruka called for lunch. Sasuke slipped out the window and Naruto shot off after Sakura, leaving me team less and alone. Shikamaru walked up to me and said I'm eating lunch with his team. We walked together to where Choji and Ino were supposed to be, and before we reached them, Shika stopped and turned to me.

"You troublesome woman, making this difficult. All I wanted was a simple life, but I had to befriend such a nuisance like you, making me distracted with the new look of yours." I'm confused, usually Shikamaru isn't one to ramble like this, especially about something trivial like clothing.

"Huh, what are you talking about Shika, I'm confused." I tilted my head slightly. His cheeks tinted slightly red and I became even more confused.

"Damn it woman. I'll show you later, this is too troublesome right now." Leaving me confused and questioning what the hell he's going on about, I followed after him and enjoyed my lunch, excited for getting to meet the sexy Kakashi Hatake soon. I took my time getting back to the classroom after lunch, knowing it wont matter since Kakashi is going to be super late. By the time I got to the classroom, all of the teams were gone and it was just Naru, Sasuke, and I. Naruto yelled at me for being so late, but was less mad at me and more mad that our Jounin instructor wasn't here yet. Deciding to kill time, I asked Naruto a question thats been confusing me for both of my lives.

"Hey Naru, why do you like Sakura so much. She's been nothing but bitchy to you since you met, likes Sasuke, but you still like her." At the though of his crush, his eyes shimmered, but stopped as he put on a thoughtful face and began thinking.

"I guess I saw her and she was so pretty, but I'm not really sure. Let me find out and I'll tell you later dattebayo! Can you tell me something though."

"Yes."

"What do girls see in Teme." Said teme was looking out the window, not listening to our conversation (or so Hinata thinks). Yes, time for all of my movie binging to come to life so I can talk about the weird mind of normal girls.

"Well, girls that are so obsessed with Sasuke like him for his looks. He's got that dark brooding hot boy look and that gets a lot of girls. Guys like Sasuke have this thing called swagger, it varies on the type of swagger for guys, but it really gets a lot of girls to go crazy for them, no matter what personality they truly have. I'll show you real swagger, Sasuke is just a lame example of it, he's a bit too brooding."

"Ok I get it I think, how do I get swagger."

"You will never have swagger, you have that hot yet sweet golden beach boy look. If it weren't for a situation, girls would fall head over heels for you. Think about the 4th Hokage, he was a golden boy like you, not a brooding boy like Sasuke. There's a lot of other types but this is the simple way, either way, girls are weird about boys and stuff."

"Cool, I'm glad, I can't be emo like Teme. What about you Hinata-chan, what kind of guy do you like." I noticed Sasuke tense and turn his head a bit more towards us to listen in. I laughed so hard. Boys, I haven't even thought about what kind of guy I like. Too many options and types to limit it, unless its spiderman.

"Loaded question dude, honestly I don't know. I guess it depends on the boy, I would say I don't have a specific type. I haven't really spent that much time thinking about it. I don't even have a crush on any real person." They ignored my "real person" statement and huffed.

"You're so lame sometimes Hinata-chan. Make sure I'm the first person you tell when you get a crush dattebayo." He said with a bright grin.

"We'll see about that blondie." I winked and laughed.

After 2 hours, even I was getting annoyed with Kakashi, damn it this is ridiculous and super annoying. I could be doing something so much better with my time. I was pacing up the walls, Sasuke was brooding in his chair, and Naruto was setting up his eraser prank. I quickly dropped to the floor and waited in anticipation. Sasuke scoffed at the prank and my eager face, Naruto and I both stuck out tongues out at him. Finally the door began to slide open and a beautiful silver head peaked through, the eraser hitting him right on his gravity defying hair. Naruto fell to the floor laughing, Sasuke looked in condescension, and I looked at him with sparkles. He picked up the eraser and held it in front of us, looking at us with half lidded eyes.

"Maa, my first impression of you guys is... I hate you. Meet me on the roof." Sasuke and Naruto looked slightly crushed, I just laughed it off and we all poofed to the roof.

Kakashi's grey eyes widened slightly at our sudden appearance before falling back into his lazy expression. He leaned up against the railing, looking lazy and casual, but I could see the tension in his body, he looked lazy to the untrained eye, but I could tell he was ready for any possible attack. His grey visible eye scanned us in what seemed to be boredom, but I could see the sharp glint behind his eye. He was analyzing us the same way I was to him. Each move he made was lazy, but still couldn't hide the years of training he's had, his underlying movements, graceful and deadly, spoke of a wary and powerful ninja. Damn, I wish I could look cool like that. Even with his mask, he was soooo sexy. If I was a fangirl, he'd be one of the people at the top of my list.

_(Kakashi POV Yayyy!)_

I was sitting waiting for my new possible Genin team. This time around I got Sasuke Uchiha: one of the last survivors of his clan and a seemingly dark and twisted boy, Naruto Uzumaki: my sensei's soon. They look so much alike I don't think I can train him without seeing my failures. He smiles like the sun even when he was shunned by everyone, a real anomaly. Finally Hinata Hyuuga: the young prodigy who supposedly passed all of the other prodigies already. She also went through a lot of trauma, but doesn't have the vengeful heart like most people would in her shoes. Interesting team choices, but I don't know if they are going to last. Naruto seems like a childish idiot, Sasuke doesn't seem like one for team anything, and Hinata, well I'm not sure about her.

My team poofed right in front of me, them knowing how to teleport is surprising, especially for Naruto. I released my tense stance and laid back against the railing lazily. I turned my eye on each of them, Naruto was loud and brash, that much I could tell already, but he has strong movements only a talented ninja has, surprising for the deadlast. Sasuke is full of anger, but he is also full of love for Hinata, he is so close in a protective stance with her and his eyes, he tries to make them seem cold and uninterested, but they flicker to her every few seconds. Hinata, she surprises me, instead of being cold and having the heavy pressure like other prodigies, myself included, and for all of the trauma she has been through, she smiles and jokes around. Yet, even with her behavior similar to Naruto, she carries herself with an aura of deadly maturity. Her eyes were happy, but even when it didn't seem like it, they were calculating. She was analyzing me every bit as much as I was her, she didn't dismiss me like Sasuke and Naruto, if anything it seems like she knows who I am. Interesting team indeed, they all have close ties to Hinata from what I can tell.

"Now that we're all here... Introduce yourselves, starting with you blondie." I shifted my gaze to Naruto and motioned for him to talk.

"Nope, you first _sensei_." Hinata said in a no nonsense tone.

"Maa, my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes are my likes, my dislikes are none of your business. My hobbies? Well I have lots of hobbies. My dream, I've never really thought about it." I said bored and slightly taunting them to get angry, ending with a fake my surprise Hinata began laughing.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, I bet I could do your introduction better than youuu." Hinata said in a singsong voice. Hmm, I wonder what she really knows.  
"Ok let us see." turned my gaze to her and watched her more intently. She knows something based on that glint in her eyes. She's definitely a student of Lady Seiko, she has that same face when she knows something she shouldn't.

"Hmm, lets see. You're Kakashi Hatake, other wise known as the Copy Cat Ninja, which is so badass I want a cool nickname. Ok whatever, you've copied over 1000 jutsu's. You like to read Icha Icha, I can see it in your pouch right now. That means you are a pervert ya know. You dislike boulders and scummy people. I honestly don't know anything you like besides porn books. Your dream is to protect your friends isn't that right." I looked at her friends and neither of them look surprised, she must know and say crazy things like that all the time. She knows more than I thought, a lot more. Who is Hinata Hyuga really. She nudged Naruto and told him to go.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki dattebayo. I like all kinds of ramen, especially the kind Hinata, Iruka-sense, and ijiji buy me. I like to surprise people when the underestimate me. I don't like the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook and I don't like when Hinata makes me do her crazy training, and I don't like teme. My hobbies are pranking and figuring out seals with Hinata. My dream is to become the greatest Hokage so everyone will have to stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody, somebody important!" He introduced while shouting and pointing to himself. He grew up interesting. He and Hinata really are close, I wonder what she has trained him in.

"Alright, you next, nosey." I said, she looked to me and gave a shit eating grin at how I was still confused of her. I can tell though that she is going to be a cute, strong kunoichi when she grows up. At least I didn't get stuck with a fangirl like most girls her age. I was worried since Sasuke seems to have all of the girls fangirling over him like when I was younger.

"My name is Hinata Hyuga. I like training, watching peoples reactions to things, my friends and family, music, and lots of other stuff. I dislike bullies, tea ceremonies, cooking, unnecessary death, a specific man who deserves death, doll dresses, and failure. My hobbies are training, theorizing about jutsu and chakra, testing out my theories, and pranks. My dream is my dream and one day when I accomplish it I will tell you what it was." This girl, she's not even close to a fangirl. Theorizing and testing out chakra, if they make it, I'll ask her about it. She's also a very interesting girl, I've never met somebody like her. Definitely not a girly girl, and seems to have high value in friendships. She even got Sasuke to smile, more like a slight lip tilt, at her introduction.

"Finally, emo."

"Ha, duckbutt he called you emo!" Sasuke gave her a halfhearted glare.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like tomatoes and my remaining family, I dislike mostly everything. My hobby is training, My dream is not a dream, I WILL make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, protect the one I love, and destroy the man responsible." Just as I thought he want's to kill his elder brother for the massacre of the clan. Naruto looked a bit pale at Sasuke's introduction. Sasuke grabbed Hinata's hand and they shared a look of knowing. Maybe the person she hates is Itachi too, after what he did to her I wouldn't be surprised. Sasuke has the dark I expected within him, but it seems like Shisui and Hinata have kept him full of love too. Maybe there is hope for this team yet.

"Alright good, you all have different personalities meet me at training ground 7 at 5 am for survival training." I waited and saw that Naruto was about to blow. He has the temper of Kushina it seems.

"Survival training, we've already done that at the academy." I began to chuckle, they all looked unnerved by it.

"This is no ordinary survival training."

"WHAT IS IT!" Naruto shouted at me.

"If I tell you, you will grow disenchanted. Oh well, I'll tell you. You see, of all 27 graduates, only 9 will actually become Genin, the rest are sent back to the academy, this test is for me to decide if you become genin. Don't worry you only have a 66 percent chance of failure." i gave them a closed eye smile. Naruto was fuming, before he could burst, Hinata yanked him to the ground. She didn't look worried one bit. Sasuke clenched his fists and looked ready to kill me.

Bring your ninja gear and I recommend not eating breakfast, you'll puke. Bye!" I flickered away to watch their reactions. How I love to terrorize the fresh Genin.

_(Hinata POV)_

When Kakashi flickered away, I decided to tell them.

"Ok guys Kakashi-sensei is an elite jounin, we have to team up to take him down no matter what. And eat breakfast, puking is better than being starving. I love you both but I have to leave now. Sasuke, tell Shisui I will be coming over later. Naru, it's time to unleash the beast. Also Naru?"

"Yeah Hinata-chan?"

"Kakashi-sensei has the most swag I've ever seen." We shared matching grins at this revelation then I jumped off the roof and ran home to tell my dad the good news. Tomorrow is going to be so much fun.

I woke up at 5 am on the dot. There is no way in hell I'm getting up earlier when Kakashi is going to be late. The only reason I'm up at the 'fuck my life hour' is that I plan on training while we wait for Kakashi, and possibly making a plan with the boys is Sasuke doesn't act like an arrogant asshole to Naruto. I arrived at the training grounds at 5:45 after my wonderful breakfast. Naruto and Sasuke didn't even bother to ackwowledge I was late, thank god, I might punch Naruto if he yells this early in the morning.

"Mornin'. Anyone want to train with me. I feel like Kakabaka-sensei wont show up for a few hours. We're probably just here cuz he wants to fuck with us and make us mad." Naruto shot up, full of energy somehow and Sasuke's face brightened at the Idea of training instead of sitting around doing nothing.

"Hn. what are we going to do."

"Im so glad you asked young padawans." They gave an indignant shout of how they are both older than me, ignoring the padawan part since they know I just spout 'nonsense'. "I would like to watch Naruto and Sasuke spar while I work on my chakra technique I'm formulating." Naruto looked so smug and mischievous I couldn't stop the grin. Sasuke is going to be in a world of surprise when they fight, I don't know who is going to win.

"You want me to fight the dobe. Tch, when I win in 5 seconds, you fight me." Naruto and I shared a look.

"Fine but you have 1 minute to win, if you don't, I don't spar you."  
"Hn." Naruto and Sasuke lined up ready to spar. They started and when Sasuke went in for a punch, Naruto dodged perfectly, the shock showed on Sasuke's face. The spar was epic, Naruto is a wild style heavy hitter and Sasuke is a graceful speed demon. I could feel the annoyance coming off of Sasuke when Naruto landed a pretty painful punch to his left shoulder. Naruto was just grinning the whole time, even when he got hit. I bet it feels good for him to not hold back anymore. Holding back really sucks sometimes and so I love training with my dad because I don't have to hold back as much, just enough so we don't kill one another.

The spar lasted a good half hour, ending with Sasuke as the victor. By the end of it, although he was so annoyed with Naruto's jump in skill, he looked so pleased to have another sparring partner worth his time. When Sasuke lifted Naruto off the ground, I knew that was his way of giving slight respect to Naruto's skill. Naruto, who is good at reading people emotions, realized that too and grinned brighter at his new friend. Tired, they both laid down and decided to sleep until Kakashi comes.

While they slept, I worked on expelling chakra through my Tenketsu points in stronger bursts. I tried it on my father and when he hit me, it backfired for him, but not strong enough, it just made his hand tingle, not go numb like I wanted. So here I am, trying to find the best amount to expel by hitting myself over and over. I found the best amount for people who aren't specifically trying to hit my chakra points, aka non Hyuuga, but it requires more and more precise control when doing against another gentle fist user which is what I'm trying to figure out. Also, I cant use it a lot because it's hard and exhausting to move my chakra to each point like that in a quick enough fashion to numb any blows they give, so instead if I concentrate it on one body part, then when a person hits that part at anytime, their chakra points will be blocked and numb that part of their body.

I also have a new theory I want to talk to Kakashi-sensei about. The boys are going to just get stronger and I want to be equals with them when they get stronger, so I have to be stronger too. Plus to take down people like Obito, Madara, and Kaguya, I have to be even stronger. I was thinking that the Sharingan can analyze a technique to copy it, but what if I can use the Byakugan in a similar manner. Since I can see chakra and how it flows, it could be possible to watch the persons chakra when they do a jutsu and I manipulate my chakra in the way they did to recreate the justu. I definitely couldn't do it at the same time like Kakashi, but I could watch it and recreate it. I'd just have to learn to alter the chakra nature. It would take some time to figure out how to properly read the flow of chakra and mimic it. If I can figure it out, I'd be a beast with a nice jutsu arsenal.

Finally, after I finished meditating and testing out chakra amounts, which is still not perfect, Kakashi poofed into existence. I nudged the boys awake and Naruto jumped up, pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Kakashi held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Sorry I saw a black cat on my path and I had to take the long way 'round." I deadpanned, it really does sound so stupid when he say it. We all stood before him and he placed a clock on one of the wooden posts. "Anyways, this clock is set for noon." He took out the infamous bells and began his eye smile. "You have to take the bells from me by then. If you're not prepared to kill me, you'll fail."

"Hey Sensei, there are only 2 bells, but three of us. So if we get the bells, what happens to the person without a bell?"

"They will be tied to the post while I eat my lunch in front of them." He said casually. I heard Naruto and Sasuke sigh in relief that I made them eat.

"Ok, but 3 teams pass, so even if they don't have a bell, if we work together to get it, we should still pass right? It's just to take the bells, it shouldn't matter who has them." Kakashi's eye narrowed at me in annoyance he had a depressed aura that I caught on so quick. I was laughing on the inside. How I love toying with people, knowing stuff like this makes it fun for them to get annoyed that I ruin their plans.

"Maa, you'll find out if you get the bells." He then told us to start and we all hid together. Kakashi was standing in the clearing, his posture slumped, one hand in his pocket, and he was reading the wonderful orange Icha Icha Paradise. He was reading the book for a while, but never turned the page, he's just doing it to taunt us and pretend to have his guard down.

"Guys, I have a plan. Naruto, spam him with a bunch of clones transformed as all three of us, then while he's distracted with that, Sasuke you need to make the largest fireball possible, then I'm going to use water and make the area around him to steamed to see. Then Sasuke and I are going to engage him in combat, Naruto I want you to place one of your gravity seals on him during that time. Then we can activate it and take the bells. I want to take this bastard down for making us wake up so early." We all shared looks of understanding and annoyance about Kakashi-sensei. This plan better work, if not, oh well, I just really want to get the bells with my team.

We split up making a triangle around Kakashi, Sasuke signaled to Naruto and he began his spam. It was amazing to see so many of us everywhere. If I wasn't hiding, I'd be laughing at how weird it is to see so many of myself. The Naru clones were attacking Kakashi from every direction. When their combat skills was higher than Naruto showed in the Academy, I could see the gears rolling in Kakashi's head. Finally, after getting a graze to the shoulder, he put his book away and began, more viciously might I add, taking out all of the clones. Every movement was precise and used as little energy as possible to take out the most clones in each attack. Kakashi was fast and deadly, his fighting style was so different from each of ours. I was in awe for a second, until I saw the giant fireballs being shot towards Kakashi. Still being surrounded by Naruto's and now fireballs, Kakashi looked slightly impressed, and surprised that Naru and Sasuke were working together.

Finally, I did my water snake and sent it to each of the fireballs, putting them out and making the water turn to steam. It was so misty, visibility was minimal. Sasuke and I jumped out of our hiding spots and I activated my Byakugan to see in the mist. I spotted Kakashi and led Sasuke to him. We engaged him in close combat. Kakashi must have thought we were clones and when he attacked us, he was shocked we didn't disperse. Finally the mist was cleared, but we already set up our game. The trump card is all of our unknown skills, no way would we show them all off in the Academy, just enough to be on top or bottom. Sasuke and I amped up our speed, Kakashi caught Sasuke on a punch, but I was there to attack his hand with the gentle fist. Kakashi released Sasuke to dodge from my attack, giving us time to regroup. I saw Naruto approaching silently from behind, and so we went back in to push him to Naru.

Kakashi swung a kick at my shoulder, and I had enough time to try expelling my chakra from that point. I pulsed it out of my shoulder points, and when Kakashi struck me, I new it was a success. The kick sent me skidding into Sasuke, but Kakashi let out a grunt and didn't put weight on that leg anymore. I knew I took it down. Kakashi and Sasuke looked at me in surprise, and Kakashi got out shuriken to throw. Sasuke moved, but I stayed in the same place and smirked. Right before Kakashi threw the Shuriken, he was thrown to the ground, Naruto was grinning foxily standing over him. Sasuke walked up casually and grabbed the bells from Kakashi's waist and Naruto released his seal.

"Hell yeah, did you see that Hinata-chan we kicked ass dattebayo. There were so many of us, then Teme did the fire stuff and you made it all steamy then Kakashi didn't notice me coming when he kicked you and couldnt walk for whatever reason and then I used my super awesome seal and he just went, bang, straight into the ground." Naruto rambled on happily, running in circles with wild hand gestures. Sasuke had a smirk of happiness, he even seemed impressed with Naruto's sealing skills, even if he would die before admitting Naruto was even close to as good as Sasuke. I was doing some flips and handsprings shouting "We are the Champions." Kakashi finally stood up, the effects of my attack done, I need to make them last longer.

"Maa Maa, I'm impressed. All I have to say now is you... passed." Kakashi said boredly. Then a serious look overcame his features and his eyes misted over like he was remembering something important. "Congratulations Team 7, you are my first Genin team to pass because you used teamwork and the other Genin were too much of brats to realize the true purpose of the test. You are all very skilled from what you have shown, but skill isn't most important part of being a ninja, especially one on team 7 is teamwork. Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. Remember that saying, it was an important one taught to me." As Kakashi was talking, he placed his hand on the KIA stone. His eyes wavered in sadness slightly and I couldn't help it. I ran up and hugged him, Naruto followed, dragging Sasuke along. Kakashi pushed us off, but looked thoughtful for a second. "How about a team dinner, my treat?" Sasuke nodded, Naruto shouted about Ichiraku's, and I just followed them.

We walked inside Ichiraku Ramen and sat at the bar. Teuchi looked at Naruto and wrote down his flavor of the day for him, and he wrote down Miso for me. He got Kakashi's order, a miso eggplant, and Sasuke's, anything with tomatoes. Kakashi's lax attitude turned stern for a minute when he turned to the three of us.

"You all showed skills that nobody knew you had, care to explain. As your sensei, I would like to know the skill levels I'm working with so I can train you accordingly."

"Ok, see I would tell you, but I would like to know some actual information about you too, trust is a two way street Kakashi-sensei. Answer the questions we ask, and we'll answer yours." Kakashi looked shocked at my slightly more demanding tone and disrespectful speaking. I know a lot about him, but I also don't know anything, and for me to really trust him and tell him stuff, I need to know about him too. I really want to know him like I've gotten to know the others. He seems like a good friend to have

"Maa , fine." Naruto asked the first question.

"How old are you." He asked with his foxy grin.

"26" Damn. Sasuke was more aggressive with his questioning, not that Naru or I expected any different.

"What is your primary nature, and how'd you get dubbed the 'Copy Cat Ninja'?" Hid dark eyes glared into Kakashi who just smiled back.

"Lightning, and because I copied so many jutsu's on my time in ANBU." I bet he doesn't want to say his Sharingan so he doesn't have to relive such a traumatic moment. Too bad Madara became such a dick and corrupted little Obito.

"So, 1. what is your favorite color? 2. what is your favorite food? 3. When is your birthday? and 4. what do you actually like to do for fun, other than reading porn?" I said with a big grin and sparkle eyes, I NEED to know these things.

"Its not porn" He said defiantly.

"Details details."

"Blue, Miso with eggplant, September 15th, and I like to walk my dogs." He said, as bored as possible. Yay, I have so many things planned for him to add him into my growing family.

"How'd you get so much swag?" Naruto asked with a big grin, actually looking thoroughly curious. Sasuke sweat dropped and I busted out laughing. I'm pretty sure the word swag doesn't exist and isn't a concept here, especially based on Kakashi's reaction. His eyebrow rose up, signaling he was asking a question.

"Swag?" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, understanding now that swag isn't a thing they know about.

"Oh yeah, Hinata-chan used it do describe guys and how some guys have swag. She said you have a lot of it. I don't exactly know what it means, she does that a lot, Hinata-chan refrences or says things that nobody has ever heard of but now we kind of go along with it, like some guy named Spider-man. I guess swag is one of those things." Kakashi looked amused and slightly confused by Naruto's explanation. I mean, who wouldn't be confused with a girl who references a bunch of stuff that doesn't even exist. The one time I said no shit sherlock, all hell broke loose on me trying to explain the concept of Sherlock Holmes to Shisui. They all turned their eyes to me in explanation.

"Oh yeah, swag is like the coolness of somebody. Like Sasuke is broody and stuff, but when he walks he looks so cool so its full of swagger. I said you have the most swag of anyone I've met because you have that cool bored personality when you're also deadly and kind of hot so it just works, aka you have lots of swag." I may be a genius, but I am terrible at explanations like this, and I cant believe I just called Kakashi hot to his face. I'm such a weirdo. Kakashi looked even more amused and chuckled, ruffling my hair at my odd word usage. I looked to Sasuke and he looked ready to kill. He was glaring daggers at Kakashi, we all noticed. Naruto being the bonehead he is decided to point out the thing I wanted to gloss over.

"Oh My Kami, Hinata-chan you called Kakashi-sensei hot dattebayo. Does that mean you finally have a crush on somebody?" Naruto asked giggling like an excited schoolgirl. I burst out laughing, especially when Sasuke looked even more pissed. If looks could kill.

"Dude, I don't have a crush of Kakabaka-sensei. I said he was hot, I also said that you and Sasuke were hot in your own ways. Somebody can be pleasing to look at without me having a crush on them."

"Oh, I didn't know that." Naruto looked pleased to learn new information about love. When I said Sasuke was hot, he looked less mad and seemed a but smug and happy about it. Boys and their pride, plus I'm surrounded by hot guys, I'm not an idiot to not notice.

"Maa, my cute little Genin are so weird." Kakashi said to us with a closed eye smile. His smile faded a bit though and in his boss voice, he spoke. "Now, tell me your skills and what level you classify them in. Naruto, you are one of the biggest mysteries you start."

"Hai, I am a good taijutsu fighter in terms of strength, especially with my brass knuckles Hinata-chan got for me, not so much in speed or agility. I can use shadow clones up to maybe a thousand or so, and I can use my wind element, I only know one jutsu though. I have endless stamina and energy dattebayo. My stealth skills are the best of the best when needed, I've been escaping from Chunin level to ANBU since I was a kid. I don't use it much though because I forget about it. I am pretty good with sealing too, Hinata-chan made me learn with a bunch of scrolls we stole from the library, it sucked and my brain hurt for a month dattebayo. Kunai and Shuriken I am average, and my strategies is bad. My chakra control is terrible since I have too much, and I also cant use genjutsu at all. I'm probably a low Chunin, but I'm going to be Hokage so it doesn't matter."

"Why did you hide this and make yourself a deadlast in the academy?" Naruto grinned his foxy grin and we shared a laugh. Sasuke looked interested in this too.

"well you see, I was the deadlast, but Hinata-chan helped me. We also figured out how teams are made when we get older, so for us to be on a team, I had to keep being deadlast and she had to be top Kunoichi. They always put the top students with the worst so I just pretended to suck dattebayo. Also, I cant wait to rub it in all of the jerks faces when I finally show them up." Naruto and I fist bumped, Kakashi was staring at us intently, he seemed to have a slight dangerous glint towards me. I could hide all of these things that I know, but I'm terrible at keeping everything a secret, especially when so much is going to change. Sasuke also looked a bit shocked at how perfect our plan for teams worked out.

"That is very cunning of you. Sasuke, you next."

"Hn. I am a fast and agile fighter, I can utilize kunai and shuriken perfectly, along with ninja wires. I would say I have a mastery over them. I can use fire jutsus well, but my affinity is for lightning. I have good chakra control, but not great. My stealth is also very high and I am good at analyzing an opponent and figuring out how to defeat them. My stamina is good and my chakra levels are higher than almost all of the other Genin. I am also training in using a Katana but I haven't mastered it yet. Overall I'm around Chunin level for now." Sasuke was blunt and did it as simple as possible of course." Kakashi nodded in approval, then his eye shifted to me. His gaze was so intense I wanted to cower, damn, him and Lady Seiko must practice the stare together.

"Maa, the one who is the most confusing. I have a few questions you have to answer after you give us the gist.

"Soo uh, I guess my taijustu is good. I've mastered my gentle fist basics and am learning the rest of the clan techniques that go with it. My Byakugan is one of the strongest of my clan now and I want to further its use with something I'm thinking of. I also created my own tai justu style that is almost impossible to predict and I haven't fully lost with it yet,(A/N she was fighting Tobi who can phase through stuff, and she couldn't smash around when trying to protect Shisui, and she was 8 then. It still cant beat Tobi because who can. And she's not too op because Itachi at her age defeated Orochimaru) I even beat my dad with it when I want to. It just takes a lot of energy. I use speed combined with agility and strength. My chakra control is perfect so I can use it to enhance my attacks like Lady Tsunade. That took a while and a few broken bones to figure out though. I use water jutsu pretty good, I have my water snake down pat and use modifications of that the most. My stealth is good, only because I avoid people with my Byakugan, I'm actually terrible without it. I am not good at being silent and all of that kind of ninja stuff. As dumb as I seem, I'm pretty smart so I can make good, very wild and unpredictable strategies, thanks to Naruto. I can use daggers pretty well, Kunai and shuriken hate me and I hate them. I suck, barely as good as academy level when throwing them. My chakra levels are a bit larger than yours thanks to my genes and using chakra and because I've been training an inhuman amount since I was 2. I guess I'd be a Jounin level if I was put up to it." Kakashi looked surprised and impressed at the mention of my own fighting style, but seems indifferent about everything else. I could feel his eye analyzing me to a scary level though.

"Maa Maa, How do you know so much about me." His tone was bored but had an undertone of demand. I know he really wants to know why I'm so knowledgable, probably to use it well and to protect me and others from spilling knowledge on accident that would be harmful. I mean with what I know, I could end the world. No matter my skills' it still is nothing compared to him. If he wanted to he would have crushed all three of us with no effort.

"Soo, thats a loaded question. I know a lot about everything. I don't really know how to explain it, I've just always been able to see stuff and know about it. I guess I'm observant, plus I've read a bingo book before." I lied, all lies, but I can't really tell them how I know so much. I probably need to make up a story for this though or I will get suspicion on me. I really don't want to be seen as suspicious. For the rest of dinner Naruto and I chatted and Kakashi seemed more relaxed with us than before, giving us super awesome closed eyed smiles, but I could see it in his eyes he was already getting attached and didn't want to, especially to Naru. I know he doesn't want us to suffer his team's fate so he tried to be distant but sometimes slipped up. I plan on being there for him too, he's already way better than kid Kakashi, but he needs somebody to be there for him like I know he will be there for us. Kakashi is really a character though, he's pretty quiet, but is super lackadaisical, quirky, and sarcastic. I really want to meet his dogs, so finally after Naruto's begging he said we could tomorrow. Yay, Pakkun is such a cutie. He went back to his 'fun' self and everything was good, minus the early morning training session he has planned for us.

That night I went home with Sasuke to tell Shisui of our adventures and he was so excited we got 'Kakashi-sempai'. When I told my dad who I got, he seemed pleased I got such a strong instructor. I purposely left out the pervert part though, dad would try to kill him if I let that slip. I wonder if when I'm a bit older if he'll fall for my techniques lady seiko taught me. Heheh, that would be fun, maybe I could see his lovely face. I finally fell asleep, preparing myself for training tomorrow. Hopefully us being so much stronger as Genin will make him train us harder.

* * *

_(Sasuke's POV)_

I arrived to our training 45 minutes early. Shisui made me et up and leave earlier than I needed to because he's an idiot who set my alarm clock ahead early. I leaned against one of the wooden posts and closed my eyes letting the sunlight warm up my skin. I began to meditate and go over ways to unlock my Sharingan when I heard the trudging footsteps of somebody coming. I opened my eye to see who was coming, and got off the post when I saw Hinata walking towards me. She looked tired, her hair was a mess and her kimono's obi was not tied properly. She is not a morning person, it's kind of cute how she looks so messed up yet still beautiful. Her lavender eyes met mine and a smile overtook her frown. I smirked at her.

"Morning freak, you look extra messy today. Some kind of special occasion?" I taunted at her. Normally I can control myself and be quiet, but she is so easy to banter with. Her eyes shined with fake anger as she gave me a Shisui reminiscent grin, promising to retaliate with her own words.

"Sup duckbutt." I glared at her and sat down on the ground, leaning my back against the post once more. Hinata walked over to me and laid her head in my lap. I knew what she wanted so I began to play with her hair. When I was younger and my father ignored me, mother would teach me how to braid her hair. I loved doing it, something about the silky hair threading through my fingers helped me relax. Even now, when I do it to Hinata, I can feel my anger fade away. Hinata let out a big sigh and I looked down at her face. She closed her eyes and her face was relaxed. The sun was glowing on her face and I I traced every one of her glowing features.

She's so beautiful, I love her and finally figured it out. I don't know what my life would have become without her there. If she wasn't there, I would have gone for revenge on Itachi when he killed my clan, but then she found out the truth. I loved her even more when she said she was willing to help me take down the bastard Danzo. As much as I want revenge, I want to protect her. She even helped me gain an unlikely friendship in the dobe. As much as I hate that he is so strong, he is a good rival. I traced her jawline with my finger, I want to kiss her, but I have to wait for the right time. I began to french braid her hair lost in my thoughts about how to destroy the man who caused Itachi, Shisui, Hinata, and I so much pain. I tied off her hair and pulled her tighter to me, her smell drifting into my nose. Sometimes it amazes me how someone so beautiful, she looks like a perfect porcelain doll, can be so deadly. She looks like a princess but fights like the devil and I wouldn't want it any other way. Together I know we can take down Danzo.

I was thinking of different training techniques, Hinat mentioned that if I get help from Kakashi I could figure out how to project my lightning out of my body like an extra weapon, without needing all the hand seals of a jutsu. In the midst of my theorizing, a loud obnoxious orange ball came running towards us. Hinata opened her eyes and gave me a smile thanking me for fixing her hair for her. She ripped her gaze away from mine and turned to Naruto, a grin overtaking her face. She got up as he tackled her to the ground. I contained my growl, how dare he touch her like that. I lifted her off the ground, and straightened her Obi.

"Teme." Naruto greeted with slight hostility at my glare.

"Dobe." I replied. Hinata giggled at our glare down. Naruto broke it and his foxy smile came back onto his face.

"Hinata-chan, Teme, we finally get our first training day and mission with Kakashi-sensei dattebayo. What do you think it's going to be like. I hope we get a super awesome mission since I'm so strong and everything, maybe we'll have to stop some rogues or save a fair maiden. I shrugged, I'm not sure what a D rank entails, but I doubt it is something of that caliber right now. Only an idiot like himself would think otherwise. I'm more excited for the training session. If Kakashi is as powerful as people say, I can finally gain enough power to be as strong as Hinata and to protect her, as well as be strong enough to take down Danzo who took out Shisui.

"I wish Naru, a D-rank mission is in the village and is basically chores. We'll probably be doing gardening or house work."

"That is so lame dattebayo. I want a real mission, how do I get one of those." Naruto shouted in a whiney protest.

"Hn" I agreed with the dobe. Chores will not make me stronger. Hinata looked thoughtful for a second before her signature mischievous smirk overtook her features. She's planning something, hopefully in my favor this time.

"Well, to get higher ranking missions, you have to complete a certain amount of each. So if we want a C-rank, we'd have to complete a lot of D-rank before then. But, if we found a way to speed up the amount of D-rank's we complete, we can get a C-rank sooner, and break all of the village records of most completed D-rank's the fastest." Naruto gained the same mischievous look as Hinata, they sometimes communicate without speaking and I hate it. Only her and I should be that close. I don't even know what they are scheming.

"So if I create a ton of shadow clones and have them be us, we can complete way more D-ranks in the time it takes to complete one. Hinata-chan you're an evil genius. We can bend the rules and break some records." That plan is perfect, and I will get to take on harder missions faster to test my strength and become stronger. We all formulated our plan on how to talk to the Hokage into agreeing while waiting for Kakashi to show up. Three hours later the lazy ass showed up, he has no respect for our time.

"Yo, sorry I'm late. I saw an old lady and-" Kakashi said, looking sheepish.

"Shove it Liar! Let's get training, I'm going to kick teme's ass today dattebayo." The dobe said, fire in his eyes. I scoffed, he wished he could beat me.

_(Hinata POV)_

Kakashi today wanted us to spar to gauge our skills a bit better. Naruto and Sasuke are going to spar and I'm going to spar Kakashi. Kakashi told each of us what he wanted to see and work on specifically. When he got to me, he wanted to see my strength. Kakashi said he'll allow me to hit him point blank to truly test see my strength. I know he doesn't believe that my small body is as strong as I told him. Speed and skill maybe, but my strength no way. I could see him underestimating me and it pissed me off. I didn't train everyday for years to be underestimated by my sensei. Naruto and Sasuke both looked sickly pale and looked even worse at my smirk.

"Uhh, Kakashi-sensei, you don't want to let Hinata-chan hit you point blank."

"Maa I'm sure I can handle it better than a little boy." Kakashi said, waving his hand in a nonchalant dismissal. Sasuke smirked a bit, ready for me to knock him into next week.

"Hn. Your funeral." Sasuke said failing at hiding his amusement. Kakashi looked a bit more stressed, but still in disbelief. I'm not naturally an overly violent person, but a blatant disrespect to my hard work deserves some kind of reparation. I smirked and strutted over to Kaakshi, swaying my hips slightly in confidence like I was taught. I could see the smirk behind Kakashi's mask, and before he could move to fight or anything, I punched him and released my chakra on impact. I sent him crashing through a tree. I hit him hard enough for pain, not enough to do any permanent damage. Naruto and Sasuke snickered at his misfortune. Kakashi was sitting on the ground looking dazed, trying to catch his breath. He looked up at me wide eyed and a slight hint of 'fear', regret, and respect flashed in his eyes. Naruto and Sasuke went to spar and I walked up to Kakashi laughing.

"What was that about me being a little girl?" I helped him up and he groaned.

"Maa, I was wrong. That's some right hook you have. Remind me not to get in your line of fire." I smiled at him and held in a giddy squeal, excited that one of the coolest and strongest people acknowledged me. I fist pumped the air and stood in front of the silver haired Jounin. For the rest of the morning Kakashi trained us, he made Naruto focus on when he attacks to not leave himself so open, Sasuke to work on adding more force behind his attacks, and me to work on reading and predicting attacks better. By the end of training, I was exhausted and could barely keep y eyes open. Kakashi took no mercy on us and took sadistic pleasure when we were running around the village. Sasuke and the ever energetic Naruto slumped next to me. We ate our bento's and Kakashi made us get up and follow him to the Hokage tower. We arrived and walked into the Hokage's office. Naruto brightened at the sight and jumped into the Hokage, telling him all about our awesome training and how he's the best on the team and stuff. Sasuke glowered and I just laughed at his antics. Kakashi requested for a mission and we were given a D-rank of painting a fence and repairing a persons room. We all groaned while Kakashi looked amused and excited for his energetic students to have such a lame mission. Kakashi told us where to meet him and poofed away. Sasuke, Naruto, and I exchanged looks.

"jiji give us more D-ranks, we want to break the record and move up to c-rank missions faster." Hokage chuckled in amusement at Naruto. He looked back at Sasuke and I, we nodded agreeing with Naruto.

"Lord Hokage, we have a system to complete D-rank's faster. If you allow us to take as many D-ranks as we ask for no questions asked, we will tell you how to get rid of your paperwork faster and I wont tell anyone about the sexy jutsu incidents." He looked suspicious, but was ready to go when we mentioned getting rid of paperwork, I know it has to suck doing it. And the hint of fear knowing we could ruin him with Naruto's sexy jutsu.

"You make an offer impossible to refuse. Take as many D-ranks as you would like each day." He leaned forward, losing his Hokage act and almost begged us. "How do I get rid of this damned paperwork." Naruto looked at me and he answered.

"Shadow clones." The Hokage's eyes widened in understanding and amazement, he let out a loud laugh and handed us the D-rank mission sheet. We signed up for 7 missions each day for the next month. We walked outside and Naruto made 4 teams of shadow clone copies of all of us and sent them to do the other D-ranks while we went to do the one Kakashi assigned. Before going to the mission, I went home and changed out of my combat clothes. I put on a basic baggy red cropped top and some grey ninja jogger pants. I was going to be doing dirty work and I don't want to ruin my clothes. I arrived to the old ladies house and Kakashi and Sasuke were waiting. Neither changed, not surprising because they probably own 30 of the same outfit. Naruto came running up right after me, he changed into a white shirt with the Uzumaki swirl and orange shorts. The lady looked pissed that Naruto was there, but with a glare from me she kept her mouth shut. She handed each of us paintbrushes and a giant can of green paint to paint her fence. Naruto complained the whole time, I was bored, and Sasuke was brooding doing the mission. I could just feel the pleasure radiating off of Kakashi at our annoyance. He would also have these weird giggle fits reading his book. One day, I'm going to take it and read it to see the amazingness.

I was working diligently on painting my fence when I felt something think, wet, and cold be brushed across the open area of my lower back. I let out the lamest sound ever and spun around fast to be faced with a Naruto who is rolling on the floor, paintbrush in hand. He better not have. I looked down at my back and It was green with a thick glob of paint streaked across it. Damn, how could he have thought of that first. I sent Naruto a fake glare, and smacked my paintbrush on his golden hair, leaving a green glob on it. Naruto, the idiot, tried to fix it by removing the paint, but it just spread it turning most of his spiky hair green. I couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing at his whining. Naru picked up another glob of paint and aimed it at me, I dodged and heard it hit something. By the way the temperature dropped I knew what it hit.

"Narutoooo!" Sasuke shouted pissed off. Sasuke had a large green mark across his left cheek. I was cracking up that the ever clean and perfect Mr. Sasuke had paint on his face. Even Kakashi was chucking a bit, and that pissed Sasuke off more. HE chased Naruto around and ended up dumping an entire can of paint all over Naruto. Deciding to help my comrade, and wanting to ruin Sasuke even more, I ran up behind Sasuke and threw paint all over his clothes. By the evil look on his face, it was a bad decision to ruin the perfectionist's clothes. Sasuke took a menacing step towards me and had new paint at the ready. I turned around to run, and to protect myself I jumped on Kakashi's back. That didn't deter Sasuke, he just threw the paint on the both of us, ruining Kakashi's book in the process. Kakashi threw me off of him and released a high concentrated amount of KI. We were all shaking at how scary he looked. His hair was shadowing his eyes and he looked ready to murder us.

"You. Ruined. My. BOOK!" I wanted to laugh at Kakashi losing his cool like this, but I was also way too scared. I raised my hands in submission then Naruto and I both pointed to Sasuke.

"He did it!" And for the rest of the mission Kakashi attacked us. We all ran for our lives, even Sasuke looked scared at Kakashi. It was good training on learning to dodge because Kakashi throws things like a demon, but damn, I didn't know somebody could make paint hurt so much.

We've been doing hardcore training with Kakashi for a month. Something snapped in him I think, because he trains us into the ground to make us prepared for anything. We work soley on taijutsu: dodging and blocking especially. His favorite form if motivation is to piss us off until we work harder. Somehow he got the doll dress picture from when I was younger and uses it to taunt me saying if I cant succeed in dodging him without my Olympic style he will post the picture all over the village and make me wear dresses like that. Lets just say, my overall dodging has gotten way better now with all of my fighting styles. We've spent a lot of time bonding as a team, even though Kakashi is always late. We usually do bonding through Ramen, though sometimes we go over to Sasuke's and Shisui's and eat there. Sasuke and Naruto fight like cats and dogs all of the time and as entertaining as it is, sometimes it is so obnoxious. Kakashi still doesn't talk about himself much which kind of sucks, but it would be so weird if he suddenly became talkative and talked about himself, most of the time he just playfully insults us or teaches us stuff. He's really calm and its hard to get a rise out of his calm demeanor, the only success is with his books. I found something better though, fear. One time we were talking about other Genin teams to analyze them and I mentioned Neji and his team. I told Kakashi I know Gai and that they are best friends or something. Kakashi froze and a look of fear flashed through his eyes at the prospect of the green clad man. For best friends, he elicits such fear in Kakashi at his odd personality. I laughed my ass off when he made me promise not to tell Gai that Kakashi is my instructor. I agreed but only if he would help me with my one of my new theories.

Sadly I haven't gotten to spend much time with my other friends. I see them occasionally but not much. Shika is still being slightly weird, but not enough for it to matter. I spend most of my time training whether it be with my team, alone, or with father. I finally got to 64 palms and even though I passed out after, it was worth it. Team 7 has also officially broken the record for most missions done in a month. With Naruto's shadow clones and us working, we've accumulated a total of 103 D-rank missions in a month. Kakashi doesn't know yet, I think, and I cant wait until he finds out. Today we have a mission and we met up to go receive it from the Hokage. When he gave it to us, I almost lost it. It's the mission to catch the missing cat Tora for the fire Daimyo's wife. That means it's time for the next people I want to help.

"Hinata. I'm at point C"

"Sasuke, point B"

"Naruto Position?" Kakashi asked through out headsets.

"Naruto point A dattebayo."

"Youre too slow Naruto, speed it up next time." Kakashi scolded. I turned on my Byakugan to spot the demon cat. People really weren't kidding about Tora. He's a demon ninja cat and is way harder to catch than I thought he would be.

"Sasuke remember the plan we used to catch Yuki?"

"Hn. Lets go, the dobe is the mouse." Sasuke said, I could hear the smirk on his face at using Naruto as bait.

"Agreed." I said through the com.

"Distance from target?" I snickered at Kakashi's serious voice. As troublesome as this cat is, it's hilarious about how serious we're taking this mission.

"5 meters." "Me too." "Ready to go Dattebayo." Then Naruto shot out of the trees at the cat. When he grabbed it, Tora began scratching the life out of Naruto. I jumped out of the trees with Sasuke and pulled the cat off Naru, handing it to Sasuke. Some reason cats love him. Tora immediately calmed down and began to purr in Sasuke's arms pissing off Naruto even more.

"Identification, red ribbon. Is it the target?"

"ID confirmed." Sasuke replied boredly.

"Lost pet Tora mission success." Kakashi said as he landed beside me. Knowing Naruto was about to blow a gasket, I took of my headset. Boy am I glad I did. He shouted, making Sasuke and Kakashi wince then glare at him as their ears rung. Naruto grinned sheepishly then led the way back to the Hokage's office. We got there and the plump and very colorful faced woman began to squish the life out of the cat. Naruto snickered at its misfortune. When she finally left, we turned to the Hokage. Who began to give us our next mission.

"Nooo jiji, I want to go on a real mission. This is little kid stuff plus we have done enought to earn a C-rank." Iruka was in the room sorting paperwork and an anime vain popped on his forehead at Naruto's brash and blatant disrespect.

"How dare you, like everyone else, you have to start out with easy missions and earn your way up." Kakashi looked annoyed at Naruto, and worried about the reaction of the Hokage. His eye flickered between them. Sasuke and I just watched in agreement and amusement.

"Babysitting isnt a mission. It's just a stupid cho-" before Naru could finish, Kakashi sent him sprawling to the floor telling him to shut up. Iruka and the Hokage began to talk about how missions are classified and earned but we all tuned them out to listen to Naru talk about the ramen he wants to eat today. The Hokage yelled at our disrespect and even Kakashi got scolded. I decided to finish this conversation to get out mission, knowing with Naruto it will take longer.

"Hey wait." kakashi was about to stop me but I pushed him off. "We've done a shit ton more of what's required for a C-rank and we are strong enough to handle it. Remember the deal Hokage-sama. Have you forgotten already how many missions we've done." Iruka looked pissed, but then before he could yell more, the Hokage handed him a sheet of paper. His eyes widened to the size of saucers as he spluttered in amazement.

"Y-You've done 104 missions already. W-What? How? That's amazing." I laughed at his reaction and Naruto was glowing in pride, his ego inflated even more. Kakshi didn't even bat an eye, so sadly he knew. I guess I shouldn't be surprised with him knowing like the know-it-all he is. The Hokage let out a deep amused chuckle, Iruka following.

"Alright, you guys since you seem to be prepared. I'll give you a C-rank." I fist pumped, Naruto shouted in glee, and Sasuke smirked. "You'll be body guards. Lets send him in."

"Awesome. Who is it? A Princess? A Feudal Lord?" Before Naruto could finish his fantasy, a drunk old man with graying hair and a wooden hat came stumbling in, taking another swig from his Sake. Naru looked disappointed and I couldn't help but smirk at the drunk Tazuna. Tazuna took a scrutinizing look at all of us and couldn't look more distraught.

"What a bunch of snot-nosed brats, and you the little one with the idiotic look on your face, you really expect _me _to believe _you're _a ninja?" He sneered, pointing at Naruto with his bottle. Naruto laughed and we lined up, I was the shortest. What the hell, this sucks. Damn, I forgot how much of a dick he is.

"Hey Old Man, don't Insult Hinata-chan like that, she is a badass ninja." I smiled at his defense of me. Even Sasuke looked displeased at Tazuna's badmouthing of me.

"I wasnt talking about her, I was talking about you idiot. She looks weak too." I snorted as his asshole response. As much as I love Naruto and will protect him from hate, the dick Tazuna is is very entertaining.

"Eh, you'll see if I'm strong or not very soon, isn't that right dude." Tazuna scoffed. Naruto jumped and went to attack Tazuna but Kakashi held him back, as he shouted about killing him.

"I'm Tazuna, master bridge builder. I must return to my country, I'm building a bridge that will liberate my people. I expect you to protect me with your lives." He stated haughtily as he drank more Sake. Kakashi's narrowed at his word choice but sent us to go pack for a week long mission.


	9. It's your fault

I went home and found my dad in his work study. I walked in and Informed him of my C-rank mission and that I would be out of the village for a bit. His face never changed, but I could tell he was proud that my team had already earned a higher ranking mission. I went to pack, and to my surprise dad helped me pack, giving me the most efficient ways possible. He also gave me a necklace that was mothers. He was waiting for my big moment as a ninja and I guess this counted for him. It was a beautiful crystal necklace with our clan symbol, the chain was small and made of a melted down Kunai from the first time my parents sparred with one another. I put the precious necklace on and tucked it into my top. I finished packing my bag, it was filled with pajamas, a casual outfit, some ration bars, and all the weapons I could fit. I strapped my daggers to my back and gave one last goodbye to my dad, left a note for Hanabi, said goodbye to Neji, and sent a letter to Shisui since I couldn't see him before we have to leave.

I arrived at the gate of the village and surprisingly Kakashi was already there with Tazuna and Sasuke. I guess if it is a mission, especially one more important, he will be on time. I greeted them with enthusiasm, I finally get to leave the village and I can meet Zabuza and Haku. I mean they're going to try to kill me but that is a minor detail. Sasuke greeted back with a nod and a smirk, Kakashi gave me an eye-smile, ad Tazuna just scoffed slightly. 5 minuted later than the time we should have left, Naruto came running up to us. His bag was massive and bulging out the seams.

"Naruto, what did you pack so much of?" I asked confused and slightly amused at his over packing. He dumped out a bunch of ramen cups. I laughed and Sasuke scoffed.

"Dobe." Naruto growled.

"Teme, I'm go-" Kakashi cut him off before his rant at Sasuke could continue.

"Alright, Naruto you wont need that so say goodbye." And Kakashi sent them somewhere, I don't know how, but the ramen was just gone. Naruto let out a tear, before brightening up again at leaving. He pranced out of the village cheering. I followed his suit, doing a handspring out the gate. Kakashi had to redirect NAruto to the correct direction, but Naruto continued his cheering until Sasuke had enough.

"Oi, dobe shut it. Why are you so excited anyways?" He said with slight curiosity, but that was shadowed by his annoyance of his best buddy.

"This is my first time leaving the village. I'm a traveler now dattebayo."

"Me too!" I said and we fist bumped. Sasuke got to leave the village once with Itachi. I was so jealous. My parents were so protective for so long, they barely let me leave the compound as a kid, let alone the village. Naruto just couldn't because he had nobody to take him, and the council would never let that happen. He's too precious a 'weapon' for the village, even though they treat him like shit. Tazuna scoffed at the realization we've never left.

"And you expect me to be safe with these brats. They're a joke." Tazuna stated bluntly. My eye twitched in slight annoyance at being called a joke. I did not work as hard as I have to be called a joke, but he doesn't know better so I let him off. Naruto on the other hand was pissed and pointed his index finger at Tazuna to get his undivided attention.

"Never insult a ninja, especially one as amazing as me. Big mistake. Someday I'm gonna be Hokage! My name is Naruto Uzumaki and don't forget it dattebayo." Tazuna turned his nose up snottily. Damn, he's getting more unlikeable by the minute.

"Yeah right, you're just a brat. The day you become Hokage, I'll sprout wings and fly." He stated with a dickish smirk on his face. That was a low blow man, low blow. Kakashi grabbed Naruto before he could try to kill Tazuna.

"You're with me and I'm a Jounin, plus these brats are the top Genin so you have nothing to worry about." Kakashi said to appease the peace. His calm demeanor helped ease the tension for which I was grateful. My heart also warmed at his recognition of our skills. Tazuna seemed to relax a bit at his confidence in us, but only just a bit. We walked along, Naruto and I talking about food and his awesomeness. I walked in between the boys, Tazuna behind us, and Kakashi took up the rear guard as protection against possible bandits. I was enjoying the scenery around me. The sky was cloudless and was a magnificent bright blue, the sun was shining down making it warm, but with the breeze it was a perfect day. The lands in the land of fire are filled with greenery, there were so many trees and plants to look at, I was amazed by the liveliness. Finally, I decided to talk to Tazuna, he seemed too lost in his own thoughts by the scowl and stressed look on his face.

"Tazuna-san, tell me about the Wave country, the bridge your building, and your family please if you're willing." His scowl faded and he looked thoughtful while he decided the best responses to my question.

"My home is surrounded by water, but it was very beautiful. All of the people were close and supported one another. Now it is in poverty and my people need to find a way off the island to have better materials and stuff to improve the now poor living conditions. That is why I'm building the bridge. My family is just me, my daughter, and my grandson. My daughter is a lovely young woman now and has the most kind of hearts. My grandson Inari is a brat, but we love each other dearly." I smiled at him, thats more than I was expecting, but I can see how much he loves his people and his family.

"I see, even if you are a dick…" That made Tazuna look at me wide eyed for my language, usually girls don't use foul language so casually like I do. He let out a chuckle about it though. Kakashi hates my swearing and he smacked me for it again. I continued speaking, "I think you are a good man because you are willing to work so hard for your people even if it is difficult." Tazuna thanked me and seemed in a bit better spirits. As soon as I finished talking, I saw the puddle up ahead. Sasuke tensed a bit but kept going, ignoring it. Naruto was pretty oblivious. Kakashi's eyes narrowed at the puddle, mine did as well. It truly is such a dumb but kind of awesome disguise. It would be perfect if there was rain, but they are idiots for using it when so dry. I focused my chakra and felt a shift in it. As we walked past the puddle, chains erupted from it, wrapping around Kakashi. He had fake shock on his face before he was 'ripped to shreds.' Naruto shouted, and Sasuke put kunai at the ready. The mist nin, demon brothers, went towards Naruto now. Even with all of his training, Naruto was frozen in shock and fear.

"Sasuke lets take them out, keep them away from Naru and Tazuna." I shouted in my commanding voice.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded and jumped into action, throwing a shuriken and pinning their chain to a tree, then making it stick with a Kunai. It was pretty damn cool. The brothers were kicked in the heads by Sasuke, but unharmed. They separated from their chain, one heading to Naruto and the other to Tazuna. Sasuke took the one by Naruto and I went to the one going to Tazuna. The mist nin went to strike, but before he could I was in front of him, Byakugan activated and I gave him a chakra enhanced gentle fist strike straight into the middle of his chest. He went flying and crashed through a tree, then coughed up some blood, and was KO'd since I took out one of his lungs. I turned and watched as Sasuke attacked his nin, trapping him in a pile of ninja wire. Kakashi then casually strolled up and Knocked him out, tying them both to a tree. Naruto and Sasuke looked relieved at Kakashi's survival, but then Naruto began to get depressed at his failure in his first encounter with other ninja.

"Maa, good job Hinata, Sasuke you were both very impressive. Naruto, are you alright, I didn't expect you to freeze like that?" Naruto's hand was fine this time, but I could tell he gained the same resolve as last time, angry at himself for freezing and needing his Rival to save him. Said rival walked up to Naru with a smirk.

"Hn. Are you ok dobe? Scaredy cat." Sasuke's smirk widened as Naruto shouted in pure anger and disappointment at himself. Before Sasuke could say anything more, I gripped his shoulder and stuck my tongue out at him. We turned our attention back to Kakashi and Tazuna. He must have already spoken with the demon brothers and his full attention was on Tazuna.

"Those ninjas were after you, the question is why. This mission is not a simple C-rank anymore. You put my students in harms way, give me a good reason why we should continue this mission." Kakashi said in his steely take-no-shit voice. It was scary and intimidating, especially compared to his cheery and bored tone he usually has.

"Please, I told you why I'm completing the bridge, to liberate my people, if you continue escorting me I will tell you the real reasons behind everything." Tazuna begged slightly worried. Kakashi's stare was intense and Tazuna was cracking under it. I stepped forward, to gain everyone's attention.

"I say we continue, I don't wanna leave Tazuna to the wolves, even if he lied, there is a good reason."

"Hn."

"Yeah, I'm gonna continue and prove myself, no more freezing like a wimp." Naruto shouted. After all three of us agreed, Kakashi's resolve to leave faded and we continued out guard duty. We were sitting on the boat in awkward silence as the mist became more and more dense. There was a large shadow in the heavy mist, then the massive bridge came into view.

"Wow its so Huge" Naruto shouted, getting shushed.

"Thats what she said" I snickered out. Everyone let out a few laughs as Naruto seemed confused at my statement. The mood shifted after that, to more tense.

"Tazuna, explain why those men were after you." Kakashi said with no room for protest. We all turned to listen closer to what he was going to say.

"The one who seeks my life is a short man with a large Shadow. You know of him. His name is Gato of Gato's shipping magnet." Kakashi gasped in confusion and shock. "Gato is a business man as you know, but he is an evil ruthless man who uses his shipping magnet as a cover for his underhanded schemes and drug smuggling. Last year was when Gato set his eyes on the Land of Waves. He used his wealth to take over the transportation in the Land of Waves and made my home bow to him, taking everything we had. The one thing he fears is the bridge being completed, it will break his hold over our country and he will lose power. I couldn't tell you this beforehand because our Nation is so poor, I could not afford higher than a C-Rank."

"So you're the one in the way of his total power, and those ninjas were his." Sasuke mused. Tazuna nodded. Kakahsi was in his own head, pondering something about this situation.

"That's alright, Gato is just a scum of a person, and hides behind his torment when In truth he is a weak bastard. I will take pleasure in helping you build the bridge and to kill that bastard and stop his operation." Everyone snapped their heads to me at my harsh statement. Even when I don't like somebody, I brush it off but men like Gato who exploit things for power and hide behind it because they are afraid make me sick. He wanted power and control so bad he ruined so many peoples lives for it and I will take him down for it. Tazuna gulped at my KI out for Gato, but thanked me for my support. Naruto was still stunned at my sudden hate. The lame part was Kakashi, who spoke up.

"As much as I agree that Gato is a dirty bastard, it is not apart of our mission to kill him. If we attack him when he has not directly attacked us, we will lose our rights as practicing ninja. You will do no such thing, got it." Kakashi said sternly.

"But Kakashi-sensei what if-"

"I said no." And our conversation was over. I turned my head away from him and started a new plan on how to kill Gato without Zabuza dying. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't realize we were on land until Sasuke shook me out of it and helped me out of the boat. Kakashi was extremely tense as we walked closer to the town in the Land of Waves. I kept my guard up, ready to grab my daggers at any movement. When Naruto started 'randomly' throwing Kunai, I knew it was time.

"Naru's right, there is somebody here." I said as I looked down at the white substitution bunny. I activated my Byakugan and Kakashi yelled duck right as Zabuza's monster executioner blade, Kubikiribōchō came flying over out heads. Zabuza came short after and was standing on the hilt of the sword, towering over us. Damn, he was ripped, I could see all of his muscles with his shirtless cow outfit. He's seriously intimidating too.

"Holy Shit, It's Zabuza Momochi one of the rogue 7 swordsman." I said excited and in slight awe of actually meeting him in person. I mean he looks scary and badass, but wow, he's so cool. Zabuza let out a deep, evil chuckle at my statement.

"Hmm the small Hyuuga girl knows of who I am, she's interesting, isn't that right Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye?" Kakashi's eyes narrowed, thoughts swirling in his head of my weird excitement to meet Zabuza, and how to protect his Genin and Tazuna from Zabuza.

"Quick, manjhi formation. Protect the bridge builder." Kakashi commanded. We all followed and jumped into position, I was guarding the front, Sasuke and Naruto on the wings. The boys bulled out their Kunai and I grabbed my daggers, putting them at the ready. I also began to push some extra chakra into my arms, and expelled chakra through my stomach to make sure if he hits me there, I can shit off his chakra points. Kakashi, pulled up his headband and his Sharingan was glowing brightly. I shuddered a bit, it's been a while since I've seen one. Sasuke tensed and I knew he was questioning heavily about Kakashi having a Sharingan since it's his clan dojutsu. I already taught Naruto about it, in simple terms, so he doesn't even have to ask. Zabuza jumped on the water and started making fast hand signs, when he completed the sequence, he shouted at us.

"Ninaj Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu." I could see his chakra pulsing out and surrounding us, and the area became covered in chakra dense mist. Having his chakra in the mist threw off my Byakugan a bit, but I could still see Zabuza's body and chakra. This may block other Dojutsu, but mine sees chakra within his body too, so he cant hide from me. Everyone gasped as he disappeared in the mist. I watched closely as Zabuza made a water clone and sent it closer to us, in a tree while He stayed back a ways to the left of me. His water clone had so much chakra, a hit would still hurt from it. The silence was deafening, until Zabuza spoke, his voice echoing through the mist in an eery way.

"Eight points… Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Now which should be my kill point" He asked as his voice continued to echo around us. Me being the idiot smartass I am decided to respond.

"You could just decapitate, with your big ass sword, it would be easy." I stated in a lighthearted laugh, a shit eating grin on my face.

"Hinata(-chan)!" My teammates exclaimed in worry and annoyance at my statement. Zabuza let out another deep chuckle.

"That works too, I like you brat, you got guts. Too bad I have to kill you." He then released a serious amount of KI, Kakashi following suit. It was overwhelming at first, but after fighting with Itachi to save Shisui, this didn't scare me as bad as it did back then. Sasuke on the other hand was shaking hard and began to brink his kunai towards himself for a fatal strike. Kakashi noticed and turned back to us, a smile on his face.

"Sasuke calm down. I'll protect you with my life, all of you. I will not allow my comrades to die." The unspoken again was there too. I watched the Zabuza clone, and he body flickered from the tree to the center of the formation. Before he could even move, I had plunged my dagger into his chest, watching in awe as water came flowing out, before the clone burst completely. Kakashi realzied it was a water clone, and another one came out to attach Kakashi as his back was turned, chopping him in half, only for it to be a water clone too. Kakashi wound up behind the clone, kunai at his neck.

"You're finished" He growled out. Naruto cheered and fist pumped, and Sasuke looked relieved. Instead of cheering, I ran up and stabbed the clone, giving Kakashi time to turn around and dodge the real Zabuza's attacks.

"The Hyuuga brat is getting annoying. Girl, how can you see thorugh my attacks."

"You're predictable and my Byakugan can see you, even when you have water clones. You're outmatched here demon boy." I said, taunting him. Bad idea, but oh so fun. Zabuza went to kick me, but Kakashi took the hit, sending him into the chakra dense water.

"Sensei get out of there before-" Zabuza was already back on the water and incased Kakashi in a water prison. Zabuza made another clone and turned to us, mocking us. I decided to let him get a few words in before we used our skills to take down Zabuza. I saw Nauto get a gravity seal out, and was preparing himself to fight. Sasuke had a few kunai and shuriken at the ready, he was also charging up for a jutsu by the looks of it.

"hehehe, you think wearing a headband makes you a ninja? You guys are just punks, when you are able to kill and get your name in the bingo book, then you are a ninja. You guys are just pale imitations, brats." Zabuza then appeared in front of Naruto to kick him in the face, naruto was jutst barely able to change the course of the blow from his head to his shoulder, still losing his hitai-ate from Iruka in the process. Zabuza stepped on his hitai-ate and glared us down again, annoyed that he missed. Kakashi didn't yell for us to leave. In his head he was thinking for us to stay safe, but believed we could handle it.

"Zabuza, you talk such a big game about being a real ninja and use such a large sword for what. Are you trying to compensate for something?" I said, a large smirk overtaking my face as I laughed at the glare Zabuza was giving me. With my distraction of hurting his pride, Sasuke threw a barrage of Kunai and shuriken at Zabuza, gaining his attention, and Zabuza attacked Sasuke, giving Naruto enough time to grab his headband and re-tie it around his head. Sasuke retreated next to Naruto, a cut on his arm.

"Listen here eyebrow-less freak, I am Naruto Uzumaki future Hokage, put that in your stupid bingo book." Naruto said looking fiercely at Zabuza. Zabuza looked slightly impressed at his dedication.

"Guys, attack plan B-3, we need to get the real Zabuza away from the water prision, then Kakashi can be freed." This attack plan made Sasuke and Naruto work together to fight the real Zabuza, while I fight the clone. Naruto made about 30 shadow clones and sent them all to block Zabuza's vision from Sasuke. Sasuke made the hand signs for his fireball jutsu and released it. At the same time, Naruto did his wind breakthrough enhancing the size of the flame and making it that much stronger. The only option Zabuza had is to dodge. While they did that, I sheathed my one of my daggers and fought with the clone. Zabuza is a master with a sword, I know my skills won't match him at all in that area, so using my dagger just to block, I engaged in taijutsu. Finally I saw an opening and I hit Zabuza with a gentle fist to the heart, destroying the clone.

All three of us Genin had smug looks on our faces as Zabuza was glaring, pissed that we freed Kakashi and destroyed his clone with minimal damage to us. I guess him underestimating us made it easy to win this round. In perfect sync, Kakashi and Zabuza were doing the 42 seals it takes for the water dragon justu. It really was amazing to watch it so perfect. I looked into the trees for a split second and saw an unknown person's chakra. Must be Haku. His chakra is so weird, it seems to flow like snow falling, not like a river or anything else I've seen. It was really beautiful. I watched as Kakashi taunted and messed with Zabuza's mind, his Sharingan making him have control. Finally Zabuza was washed with big tsunami of water and pinned to a tree by kunai. I waited and sure enough Haku came and sent the senbon into the neck of Zabuza. Naruto yelled at him in the blunt Naruto fashion after Haku made his presence known to everyone else. He placed Zabuza's arm around his shoulder and was about to leave. Right before he did I called out to him.

"Next time just take the head _tracker nin." _Using my sarcastic tone when calling him a tracker nin. Haku froze, them disappeared. Naruto ran up and began to hit the ground.

"What the hell, no matter how hard I train, I seem to always be behind. That guy was barely older than me and he just took him out like that when I couldn't. Aghhh!" Kakashi gently stopped Naruto's self harm and tried to appease him.

"Face it Naruto, there are ninjas out there who are younger than you but stronger than me. All you can do is learn from it and get better." I didn't notice Kakashi's gaze shift to me when he talked. I mean he's right, Itachi was one of the strongest ninja's for the village and was younger than everyone. I guess if I really need to be, I would be up there too. I just cant go around killing so I hold back. A second later, Kakashi face planted from chakra exhaustion. I laughed a bit and Tazuna picked him up, carrying Kakashi like a sack of potatoes. We followed him to his house.

I walked in and Tsunami was there to meet us. She was very pretty and was very sweet, motherly even. She set Kakashi up in a room and came back down to feed us as a thank you for helping her father. Tsunami was very impressed with us being so young and such "awesome ninja" as Naruto put it. She was even more impressed with me, being such a 'pretty girl' and such a strong kunoichi. Talking with her definitely inflated all of our ego's a bit. Tsunami was so kind and I wanted to spend more time with her. She reminded me of my mom a bit, especially when she begged to play with my hair and doll me up a bit. Since there was nothing else to do, I let her. I mean, anyone else I would say no and never speak of it again, but she was so alike my mom, it was like having her here again. What I would give to have my mom here and dress me up one more time, I wouldn't even complain.

I helped her finish cleaning and she allowed the boys to go set our stuff up in the room. She dragged me along giggling saying how she wanted a daughter too to play with and so I'm taking that spot. While she dolled me up, we talked. I felt her warm presence easy to talk to about non ninja stuff. I told her about my mom dying and my step family all dying. I also told her my insecurities of being a girl and how I'm slightly afraid of never finding love because I'm so different from what a good wife is taught to be. It was nice to finally have another woman to talk to about this. I could with Lady Seiko, but she would just push me to be stronger and forget it. Tsunami coddled me a bit and I won't lie and say I didn't like it. Tsunami also told me about her husband and Inari's issues. I did my best to comfort her too. Finally, she finished making me over and brought me to a mirror. My hair was down and had the sides in intricate french braids to wrap around into the back. It was simple yet complex and extremely beautiful. She also did my makeup. I am pretty good at makeup when I do it, but I tend to make mine more feline like an badass rebel, yet still fitting for my title as an heiress. It fit since it wasn't girly makeup. Tsunami did my makeup in a way only my mom could. I looked very pretty, I had a gloss on my lips, a nice blush, and my eyeshadow was done subtly yet made my lavender eyes stand out in a different way than my black liner does. I looked like a princess, and more mature in a different way than my makeup, yet it was so soft, I still looked like a ninja. I was speechless and tried not to cry at how easily she made me feel like I had my mom again. As much as Tsunami wanted to put me in a dress, I had to say no.

I put on my casual attire and went to Kakashi's room. He was still asleep, so I took his rag and re-wet it with cold water, placing it back on his forehead. Damn, it was so tempting to pull his mask off, and I was going to until Tsunami walked back in, carrying a tray of tea. She gave me my bitter fruit tea I told her I drank and left some for Kakashi. She stood up,ready to leave, but stopped when Kakashi let out a groan and tried to sit up, so I put my hands on his chest, which was so muscular, like damn all ninja boys are so toned, and helped him sit up against the wall.

"Oh my, are you alright sensei? You were really drained." Tsunami said with her sweet motherly concern.

"Maa maa, I'll be fine. I just wont be able to fully move for a few days." He said in his nonchalant Kakashi way. I deadpanned then giggled at his statement, making it seem like nothing. Tsunami left and went to tell everyone he was finally awake. Kakashi looked towards me and stared for a bit before talking. It was weird and I didn't know what he was thinking as he stared at me. Eeh oh well.

"You should stop taunting people like Zabuza, it might get you killed." He chided me. I laughed.

"Yeah, I can't do that. Its useful for so many reasons and its fun. I don't like the doom and gloom that much, and if it's somebody cool like Zabuza, its even better."

"What am I going to do with you, you think Zabuza is cool." Kakashi deadpanned and thumped my naked forehead. I smiled at him and shrugged. Then Naruto and the gang came barging in the room.

"Kakashi-sensei you're awake dattebayo!" He shouted right next to Kakashi. I laughed when Kakashi's face paled at the loud noise.

"Too bad he can't move." I said snickering at his misfortune. Tazuna spoke up this time, the most relaxed I've seen him.

"Yeah… well he did help take down a powerful ninja, so we'll be safe for a while." I looked at Kakashi who was finally thinking over the situation more clear, his eyes widened a bit when he realized the truth.

"Ehh, that's not true, you saw the masked guy..." Kakashi nodded and took over for me.

"He is a tracker of the mist, an elite shinobi, but a tracker has to only bring back the head as proof of the assassination. They don't bring back whole bodies, they dispose of the body on the spot. That masked boy didn't do that. And the weapon he used." Karachi paused for his ever-so dramatic emphasis.

"Senbon Needles. No way" Sasuke breathed. Naruto was finally catching on, the glazed look in his eyes finally clearing.

"Wait if that's true, Zabuza is probably alive, but I thought you confirmed his death sensei?" Naruto said, beginning to get giddy at the thought of fighting Zabuza and the Masked kid.

"He was in a temporary state of death caused by pressure points in the neck. I know them all and thats what happened. I figured it out because he was there for the whole fight and before, but fighting him when Kakashi-sensei was down was just a waste. Zabuza is alive and we're gonna fight him again." I said. Yes, now I can save Haku from his fate he didn't deserve. Tsunami and Tazuna shared nervous glances at the information.

"That's alright because we will train and be ready for them next time." Kakashi said lightly, smiling at us. The mood brightened again and then the door was slammed open ad Inari ran in, jumping into his grandfather's arms.

"Welcome Back Grandpa!" Inari sent a childish glare to us. "Don't you see, everything is not alright, I won't believe it." Tsunami gasped, grabbing her chest in surprise. She then turned her mom scolding face on, wagging finger and all.

"Inari! That was very rude, these ninja helped your grandpa and brought him home safely. Apologize." Inari shook his head no, his arms crossed.

"Mom, they should just give up, you know they are just going to die when Gato's men come back and find them." Sasuke and Kakashi stiffened, and Naruto sent a harsh and angry glare to bucket hat boy. I just looked impassively, Inari is hurting and so I don't feel the need to scold him about his idiocy...yet. That's what the baka Naruto is for anyways, he is so lovable, but he is also a good person at giving harsh reality checks.

"What did you just say brat?" Naru shouted, doing his infamous accusing point. "Listen up! Do you know what a super ninja is?" He pointed his thumb at himself in pride, his orangeness and bright personality made him stand out and the pose that much more effective. Maybe that's why Gai wears so much green, to make his pose stand out even more. "Thats me, but only better. That Gato or Blato or whatever doesn't stand a chance against a real hero like me." He stated with fierce dertmrmation spreading across his features. Naruto is already a hero in my book, and I want to live up to him and be a hero just as great. I feel like that could have been my reason to be sent here, to become a hero alongside Naruto and fix what I think deserves fixing. Inari began to laugh as cynical as a small bean like him can. It was kind of cute, but slightly unnerving that he could be so twisted right now.

"There's no such thing as a hero. You're just full of stupid ideas. If you wan't to stay alive, go back to where you came from." Tsunami and Tazuna paled at Inari's statements, he really is so fucked up right now, he needs some therapy jutsu and fast. Naruto got up to attack Inari, but I pulled him down and let Inari run out of the room as Tazuna apologized for his grandson's behavior. I got up and walked out of the room, following Tsunami since she looked a bit crestfallen at how sad her son is, and I wanted to help take her mind off of it. We went into the kitchen and she put an apron on herself and me. She gave me a fake smile, trying to hide her sadness, I smiled back, a real one. Her eyes brightened a bit.

"Hinata-chan, you can help me make dinner for the boys. I never have help and I'd love some." She said, seeming excited at the prospect of getting another female to help her. I smiled and laughed sheepishly.

"I'd love to, but you have to do all of the actual cooking, I can cut up things and stuff, but no cooking for me I am terrible at it." Tsunami giggled at me.

"Oh, Hinata-chan, thats ok sweetie, I will teach you how! Then maybe that cute black haired kid will ask you out!" She exclaimed, excited at the thought of me having a boyfriend. For only knowing me for a few hours, she is already like family.

"Sasuke? Ha, Sasuke wouldn't ask out a girl if his life depended on it. I'm pretty sure he's asexual." Tsunami finally let out a full blown laugh, clutching her sides. "And, I know _how_ to cook, it's just that I _can't _cook. I have a special talent of not being able to cook. I can burn and undercook rice at the same time, I've done it many times. I was banned from using a stove ever again at home." I said full of my confidence, doing a bow at my awesome cooking skills. I mean, who needs to know how to cook when there is such things as raw food and restaurants. Problem solved, as long as I don't have kids to feed, then my husband will have to cook. Tsunami looked at me in slight disbelief and amusement.

"Of course you would do that. I can already tell normal woman chores don't fit with your lifestyle. Thats alright, because you can chop up things for me and make the salad for us." She said ruffling my hair giving me a gentle and slightly teasing smile. I fist pumped and grabbed a knife out of the drawer. We cooked dinner for everyone while the boys did Kami knows what.

_(Quick Third person pov)_

When Hinata and Tsunami were in the kitchen, in their aprons each of the boys were watching closely. Tazuna was watching the duo with a hidden smile as he drank his sake. That young girl was able to protect him and make his daughter smile in a way he hasn't seen in a while. Inari watched from afar, confused and angry at the girl. She's pretty and small, she's weak and is going to die. He didn't understand how she could smile when so many bad things were happening, or why she thinks a weak princess like her, and her weak friends could defeat somebody strong like Gato, when his Dad, the strongest man ever, couldn't.

Karachi watched Hinata and his other students with intrigue...their feelings were interestingly changing and he was excited to see how everything would play out. Hinata was a cute kid and he assumed she would only grow more beautiful as she aged and he could see that it would cause some interesting reactions from Naruto and Sasuke. Oh, the curse of team 7, hopefully it ends up better than when he was younger.

Sasuke was watching not the duo, but Hinata alone. He knows he loves her, and Sasuke watched in pure love as _his_ Hinata cooked in a cute apron. Seeing her cooking and looking like that, reminded him of his mother and made him want to hold her close. She is perfect to him, a perfect wife. She is strong, beautiful, annoying, and kind. Sasuke knows he wouldn't want it different. His eyes traced her features that looked softer and more fairy like with whatever Tsunami did to make her like that. It was a change from Hinata's usual black winged eyeliner to make her eyes look a bit more deadly, and all the more beautiful, but Sasuke couldn't help but like the way she looked like this too. Instead of a perfect Byakugan princess, fierce and hot like she normally is, she looked more fragile, ready for him to protect her from evils like Zabuza and Danzo. At that moment Sasuke was thinking of "She's _mine_ and I will protect the girl I love."

Naruto was only half paying attention. His mind was mainly on the training Kakashi would have him do, but every once and awhile, he would watch his best friend. He gave up on their rivalry since Sasuke has that spot, but she has the place as his first and best female friend. Naruto has always seen Hinata as his friend, nothing more. He's only had eyes for Sakura, sure Sakura wasn't the prettiest girl, but she was special to him. At least until Hinata asked him why he liked her. Now, when he's not thinking about how to make himself Hokage, he's thinking about that. Why Sakura?

Now he's a bit more confused on what or who he wants, she's right in that Sakura is not nice to him, but what girl is, how will he find a super pretty girl willing to love someone with a demon inside of them. That's why he hasn't told Hinata, she might leave him too when she finds out, then who will love him like she does. Hinata is the only pretty girl to ever be nice to him, where will he find a girl like Hinata for himself. Hinata always tells him he deserves the world and to find the girl that makes him feel like he has the world when she's with him. So as his eyes flicker to his best friend, who looks prettier than usual, though he doesn't really acknowledge that, he is trying to figure out what she means by that. Naruto's thoughts were "Who will I find like that?"

I went to the bathroom to get ready. I brushed my teeth, being lazy I threw my hair up into a pony, and got dressed. Since it's just training today, I put on red ninja joggers and a black fishnet shirt with a black crop shirt over it. Let me just say something though, my life would suck if it weren't for Lady Seiko. Sports bras are not a thing here, women ninja bandage their chest in a binding thing for a bra. I did it once and almost died, it's like wearing a corset and hurts really bad, as well as restricts my movement.

So instead of that monster, I spent a month with Lady Seiko designing and creating sports bras, she thought it was genius. So after some sewing lessons and stuff, I finally have a selection of sports bras. Since my chest is developed and I know it will only grow, having a bra was in my bets interest, it's made life so much better. How females did without them, I'll never know. And the entertainment when Naruto found my bra and asked what it was and I explained it, his horror and awkwardness will forever be engrained in my brain. I slipped on my ninja shoes and headed outside into the nearby forest.

I ran about 15 laps, did my 3 sets of 300 pushups, 200 pull-ups, 300 squats, 1000 jumping jacks, and 500 sit ups hanging from a tree, I lowkey feel like Gai and Lee when I train, minus the green spandex, which I slightly hate but slightly want to try on just to see if they are magical or something. Chakra enhancement still amazes me on how an exercise that would wreck a normal person was possible for us shinobi. My body was burning after, but I love the burn. Then I ran through my 3 sets of Katas, one for basic taijutsu, one for the Hyuuga style, and one for my Olympic style. Then I attacked some poor trees with them, I made sure not to release my chakra on contact, just to use it to enhance, I didn't want to break all of the trees. I did my meditation and chakra control exercises, moving my chakra in and out of myself, moving it to each point of my body and expelling it, the works. That should be rejuvenating, which it is kind of, but it is also very exhausting.

Finally I worked on my water control. I'm no Tobirama, I mean who is, but I am getting the hang of my water control pretty damn well. My training is I have to stand on the water, allow myself to slowly sink to my waist and push myself back up solely with my chakra. I fall in a lot, but I'm getting better. It's taken me about a month to even begin to raise myself in the water but oh well. Next, I would sit on the water and move it around me, raising me into the air and moving me around as I continuously flow my chakra through a tunnel of water. With controlling water, or standing on top of it, unlike normal justus, instead of just using a burst of chakra to get the justu to work, water control like I'm working on means I have to expel a continuous and steady flow of the exact amount of chakra needed for the water to move the way my chakra tells it. If I mess up even in the slightest, I fail. Standing on water I can do just as easy as on land, but moving water not as a jutsu, especially a mass large enough for me to be in top of it, takes precision and focus which I have to train over and over.

I've been doing this type of control for months and still can only move myself a little but before falling back flat onto the surface. I did figure out how to ride my water snake head though. I just want to figure out how to control my water and use it as transportation or support or whatever without making it an actual jutsu, or make my own water jutsu. I mean, training like this 2 times a day is normal, it's draining and I end up in the hospital a lot when I train on different things, sometimes hurting myself trying things that are impossible, but I have to. People who know about me, since I've been not really shown as a prodigy to other nations yet, yay hiding myself from that scrutiny and target, actually its because of Itachi supposedly going bat-shit-crazy but whatever.

After his massacre, they didn't announce I was a prodigy to anyone outside who already knows, I'm only seen as a prodigy physically because I train as much as I possibly can without dying or going crazy, and that I have a ton of random ideas on how to get stronger. The only people who really know my training are my close friends and family, and many times, I'm told I'm crazy for it. At least I have Gai and Lee as my psycho training homies, not that I would train with them, because thats just a no no.

I finished my training and hobbled back inside to eat a late breakfast with everyone so I can regain some energy before Kakashi's training. As I ate, I meditated to regain some of my chakra that I lost, and to help my body rest a bit before training again. This time I will do daggers and weaponry since Kami knows I need help with that, unless Kakashi comes up with something for us. We finished breakfast and headed outside to do our training. Kakashi walking on crutches, yet still somehow fast like a mofo. Kakashi stopped and we stood in front of him like the sweet Genin minions we are.

"Alright training starts now, first we will have a review on Chakra." Kakashi said lighthearted and with a smile, but I know that his smile is going to become sadistic soon.

"Hn, we know this already." Sasuke grumbled under his breath, this made Kakashi's smile turn into a smirk. Naruto nodded enthusiastically.

"Teme's right, we already know about Chatora." We all sweat dropped, I face palmed. Even with all of my training he forgets the word Chakra. Kakashi corrected him and made him explain it. Naruto used the ramen explanation I used of the hot water and noodles combining to make ramen, like spiritual and physical chakra. If they are not balanced well, the ramen is bad, just like the chakra is flawed. It was beautiful and I clapped at the end. At least he understands something I said. Then Kakashi finally got down to it after accepting that we know what Chakra is.

"Maa Maa my cute little Genin, you have been training your physical bodies well, I think it's time I help you each learn a justu that will benefit you, especially for the impending fight with Zabuza and the masked boy." We all brightened at the idea of Kakashi teaching us some dope new jutsu, he knows so many of them, so hopefully they will be awesome. "You will train on the jutsu I pick for you until you have it down like second nature, or you pass out." He said with his cheeky smile. And we were thinking for a second this would hurt less than his taijutsu.

"Alright Kakashi-sensei, teach me a super powerful, wicked awesome new jutsu!" Naruto demanded, his body glowing in happy and excited sparkles. Kakashi rolled his eyes to heaven above, but I could see the amusement and fondness in them over Naruto's actions.

"Fine. Naruto, you will be learning the Wind Cutter technique. I can't use wind nature, but I can tell you how and you can figure it out."

"Hai Kakashi-Sensei, I'm going to get this down no sweat." He said, that fire burning in his eyes. I kinda wish I could make fire appear in my eyes too, that would be so fun.

"Sasuke, you will be learning the Current Transfer technique."

"Hn." Sasuke looked very pleased, if he wasn't such an edgelord, he would have smiled.

"Hinata. You will be learning the Water Shockwave technique." I looked up at Kakashi with my eyes glowing in childish excitement. I glomped him and cheered.

"That sounds so badass! Eep." Kakashi threw me off, clearing his throat in awkwardness. He then went on to explain the jutsu's to the boys, each taking a good 45 minutes of explanation before he came over to my area, by the pond I was at earlier, and sat down in front of me.

"I watched you train this morning, your control over water will be amazing like the Second Hokage if you continue at this rate, you already surpass many water users already." He gave me a smile and patted my head. "Just remember not to overwork yourself, you're young. Don't consume yourself with training." He said, more serious than his earlier tone. I'm touched he cares like that.

"Thanks for the concern Kakashi-sensei, I will make sure to keep that in mind. Now on to the awesomeness," I gave him puppy dog eyes, grabbing his vest. "TEACH MEEEE!" He chuckled a bit then made some handsigns. A stream of water shot out of his mouth, then he infused lightning into his hands and put it into the water making an electrified current of water. Electrocuting the fish in the pond, making them float to the top belly up. I stared in amazement before turning to Kakashi, smiling my shit eating grin. I threw my hands in the air.

"That was totally wicked." Kakashi shook his head at my choice of words, too bad he doesn't know the incredibleness of what I just said. Kakashi explained in depth of what I need to do, the water part I already can do, its the addition of the lightning I'm not so sure about. It's my secondary nature so I can do it, its just weather or not I can figure out how to do it. Kakashi got up to leave, but before he could cripple himself away to read his porn, I stopped him.

"Kakashi-sensei, I have a theory and I was wondering if we could test it out. I normally would ask Shika, but he's not here and you're smart, plus you have the Sharingan so I need your help to see if I'm right or not."

"Sure, your theories are always entertaining, even when they fail. Explain it."

"So I've been talking with Shika and the Sharingan can copy a technique by seeing it and keeping it in its memory or whatever. My Byakugan see the way chakra flows, if I specifically watch the specific flow of a persons chakra doing a jutsu, then use my super dope control to mimic the movement of their chakra, I can essentially repeat the justu. It wont be instantaneously like Sharingan, and I'd need to probably see the justu a few times, but I think it's possible. So, do you think it is?" Kakashi stared at me dumbfounded for a few minutes. I just stared at him back, two can play at this game weirdo. Finally he stopped doing whatever the hell it was, and patted my head again, making me feel kind of lame, but kind of nice at the same time.

"I think it is a high possibility that it will work. You really are something, you know that. Your brain works in very mysterious ways, Shikamaru is a genius, but you're no slouch." My eyes watered like a baby from receiving such high praise form one of the people I respect the most.

"Fuck yeah!" I got a head slap for my language, but it was a loving head slap... I think.

I watched Kakashi mold basic lightning chakra (his chakra is white which is petty cool) into his hands then expel it. After the first few times of me watching exactly how his chakra molds then becomes electrified and moves around, I began to try to mold my chakra the same. At first, I could mold my chakra the same movements, but I couldn't get my chakra to electrify and move erratically like lightning does, it was still more fluid like water, ironic for a spaz like myself, but finally, as I moved my chakra while watching Kakashi at the same time, I began to get little sparks.

TO change it up, I thought if I could directly feel the change it would be easier so before he could escape to read his porn, I got Kakashi to help me one last time. Kakashi would transfer his lightning into my hands as I watched closely, then I would mimic it and try to make my chakra match with his as they bonded basically. That really helped and I finally figured out how to make my chakra become lightning. I basically flipped at my prediction right and Kakashi was very proud of his help in aiding my theory to become plausible. He finally left me to my own devices to aid the boys and read porn.

It was dark outside and when I went to the kitchen, everyone was sitting down about to eat. Naruto and Sasuke didn't look much more awake than I am. Sasuke looked ready to pass out, his hair was a bit frizzy from static shock, and he also had a slight twitch. Naruto had dark circles, he had lots of cuts on himself, and he looked slightly frustrated. I could tell neither of them have mastered their techniques yet, but from Sasuke's more pleased face, he's close. We ate dinner, them puking over their eating too much too fast, I helped clean the kitchen, and then we all went to bed.

I woke up annoyingly early in my hot cocoon again. I got dressed in the same thing as yesterday, and went to train. I did my warm up routine and chakra control the same as yesterday, but instead of water control I got out my kunai and demon shuriken. Time for weapon training. I started with throwing kunai and shuriken at targets I carved into trees. I did this until I hit each tree in the center 100 times with both weapons. That took a while, I am way better than I used to be, but I still am not great, like a 75 percent accuracy, better than Shaq and free throws, but 75 percent is bad for a ninja. Thank god I'm not going to sue them as more than a distraction. Throwing weaponry is not my thing, never will be. It looks cool when people do it, but to throw it, I just can't. I can use kunai fine in close combat situations, just don't ask me to throw it for perfect accuracy, its pretty possible I'll miss.

Today, Kakashi sent us out for day 2 of training. I went back to my pond and Kakashi allowed me 10 minutes with him to re-watch his lightning chakra. When he left, I worked on transforming my chakra in my hands into lightning. It's definitely a lot harder without Kakashi's chakra urging mine along, but the image of how his chakra moves, changes, and sparked is imbedded in my mind. By the end of the training day, I could turn my chakra into lightning, not just in my hands but my whole body. I could do it, but it's not a very strong current like Kakashi and Sasuke can control. I'll have to work on making it stronger, enough not to shock but to actually electrocute like lightning should.

Then I get to add it to a water jutsu at the same time. When I went in for dinner, Sasuke looked so smug. Apparently he finished his jutsu and gets to guard Tazuna now. Naruto looked pissed, but he said he's super close to finishing his too, he just has to make the cutter more narrow like a blade instead of like a brick wall pushing against an enemy. I'm thoroughly impressed he was able to go off an explanation alone and figure out what he needs to do to finish his jutsu. I explained how I'm figuring out how to strengthen my current and Sasuke volunteered to help me after dinner, I gladly accepted. The more help the better.

At dinner, Inari finally had his meltdown yelling at all of us for being idiots and we should stop training because heroes don't exist, and he got even more pissed when Naruto said he was wrong. Inari yelled at us for not understanding what it's like to lose somebody and we are just blindly happy. That hurt my soul a bit to hear him say that without understanding how shitty we've all had it. Naruto left to go prove heroes exist, I told Sasuke to meet me by the pond soon, and Kakashi went to do whatever he does. Before I went to the pond, I decided to use my big mouth and talk to Inari. He was sitting out on the docs with his feet hanging off the side. I sat next to him even when he turned his head away.

"Hey Inari what you said back there you were wrong." I said as softly as I could, not wanting to anger the fragile kid. He just scoffed. "You see, Naruto, Sasuke, and I all understand you better than you think. We've all lost people too." Inari's glistening eyes, fresh with tears, looked up into mine.

"R-Really? How?" He asked hesitantly. I pulled him into my lap and started playing with his hair to calm him.

"Naruto never had a family, he was an orphan. Even then, until we met, he never had friends either. He was totally alone. Sasuke had a family, but a bad man came and killed his whole clan, leaving Sasuke and his cousin left. I was best friends with Sasuke and lived with his family for a while so I lost them like they were my family. My mom also died giving birth to my sister and for a while my dad was too unstable to live with. We all understand the pain you go through, the difference is instead of crying about it and letting it make us weak, we use it to become strong to protect those we have left. It's ok to cry, but when you cry, let it be out of happiness not because you are weak." Inari looked at me with shining adoration, god kids make me so weak. Hanabi ruined me, I'm such a softie. He turned his body around and hugged me tightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." He whispered before falling asleep. I put him in his bed and left to meet Sasuke. Sasuke was sitting, his pale skin glowing under the moonlight. He heard my approach and stood up to meet me. I explained my issues with making my chakra stronger as well as the technique Kakashi and I used. Sasuke seemed annoyed at it, maybe he's jealous I found a way to sort of have a fake Sharingan. We intertwined hands and he began to send lightning chakra into my hands in a non lethal way. We did this for a few hours, Sasuke coaching me on how to strengthen the lightning by making me have to mimic each strength he did. I figured out it's by the frequency of the shock vibrations in the lightning not the size and temperature like I was trying to do. Finally I got it down, ready for the final stage of my jutsu. Exhausted, I fell asleep on Sasuke as we sat at the pond talking about the future.

I woke up the next morning in my futon, being cuddled by only one heat bag, Sasuke. At least, I woke up at a reasonable time today. I turned around in Sasuke's arms to look at him and wake him up, but his eyes were already open. I poked his face and we got up to go eat and find Naruto. We found Naru talking with Haku. I mean damn, he really is pretty. The true definition of a pretty boy. I waved to Haku with a happy smile, he gave me a small one in return before leaving. Naruto was muttering about beautiful boy and I snickered at him. Sasuke of course punched him in the head and made him walk with us to Tazuna's.

Kakashi came out and found us, it was then Naruto demonstrated his jutsu. He performed the hand signs and channeled chakra, releasing it through his palms. When it hit the tree it sent a bunch of slices into the tree, it was amazing. Everyone looked thoroughly impressed and I fist bumped with Naru. That's gonna hurt like a bitch when it hits somebody. I also finished my training today, but after the sun was going down. It took time to be able to use water and lighting one after another, without my water jutsu dying out. The key was to separate and use water when it spews out of my mouth while also making my chakra into lightning as it connects out of my hands into the water. Once I got it down though, I felt so proud of myself and then passed out into Kakashi's awaiting arms after demonstrating the justu.

I can't believe today is the day it happens, and I'm fucking late, not Naurto, me. Things have changed, Kakashi is no longer an absent sensei...usually, Sasuke is focused on a different route for revenge, Naruto is a fucking baller and yet...it seems like whatever I do things still follow canon. Am I playing it too safe, perhaps I have to really do some changes to get results, keeping too close to canon is a waste if only minor details will shift.

I picked up Inari and sped off, it was easy to find the thugs, they were loud and slow. I appeared behind them and grabbed their attention, Inari dragged his mother away and I attacked each thug easily taking them out with a gentle fist strike to the chest, putting them possibly in comas if I was correct. Inari was so happy and he finally acknowledged we were real heroes. I kissed his cheek, proud of how brave he was to run and save his mom, and woke up Tsunami, making sure she was fine. After my checkup and beating the ass of the lame thugs, I body flickered my way to the bridge.

I made it to the bridge and hid myself, suppressing my chakra as much as possible while using my Byakugan to see what was going on. Hopefully the flare of activating the doujutsu didn't alert Zabuza of my presence. Naruto was guarding the bridge builder with a bunch of clones, while helping Kakashi with Zabuza. Sasuke was inside the Demonic Ice Mirrors, but he wasn't a pin cushion yet. Haku sent a wave of senbon to Sasuke, poking him everywhere as Sasuke tried to dodge. Sasuke let out a growl of pain and my heart clenched at the sound, it was terrible. I want to save Haku and Zabuza, but if it's them over team 7, I'll pick my team any day. I snuck around the best I could to the back of the mirrors. I loaded my fist with a ton of chakra, ran at the mirror and when my fist connected with the mirror, I released all of the chakra I gathered. I used more than usual and could feel the shock reverberate in my fist, but to my delight, my strategy worked and the ice mirror shattered. A basic level fire might not do much but the impact equivalent of crushing a boulder should break ice, though the issue would be how fast he can re-build them. He can fix them faster than I can break them.

"Impressive, no one except Zabuza-sama has ever been able to break one of my mirrors. I will fight you after I finish with the other boy." Haku said in his emotionless voice, the softness he held was gone and it was so difficult to hear someone force themselves to be so...blank.

"Listen here Haku, I'll fight you now, let Sasuke go." Sasuke was bloodied, definitely not at the level he could have been and I'm sure he'd do fine but I have to do something different, I have to save everyone.

"You fight to protect the ones you cherish, a noble aspect for a ninja, but I cannot let him leave my trap. I will do what Zabuza asks of me and destroy the kindness in my heart to take you both out. You will not be a threat to my master." Haku then fixed the mirror I shattered, and pulled me through one of them, into the center of his jutsu. I gasped and fell to the ground when I made it through the mirror. My body completely shut down, being moved through his ice slowed my chakra down exponentially as well. Each movement, even trying to breathe burned with effort.

"W-What did-d y-you do t-to me." I stuttered out, trembling as my chakra was trying to move through the frozen cells. Sasuke came up and stood in front of me protectively when Haku appeared in front of me.

"I pulled you through my mirror, partially freezing your insides, slowing you down to a snail. I can't have you breaking more of my mirrors and attacking Zabuza." Sasuke glowered, he looked more hateful than I have ever seen appear on his face. It was a scary sight. Haku melded back into his mirrors and appeared in each one, barraging us with senbon. Sasuke managed to block some, but he wasn't fast enough, and I couldn't move that well. Each senbon entering me hurt more than I thought, the pain of being stabbed with my freezing body was almost unbearable. Useless, with all this effort on being stronger to be taken out by ice, to be frozen and incapable of moving...I'm useless. In the way, I can't just be like this. I won't.

"I'm going to KILL you for hurting her!" Sasuke all but yelled. It was a menacing growl and I could see Haku stop for a second at Sasuke's anger. Sasuke picked up a senbon and turned his head to me. His eyes were blazing red. I gasped, and smiled in happiness that he finally awoke his Sharingan. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from him. I can see his movements clearly now." Haku sent another mass of senbon, but Sasuke blocked each one. Haku shifted his trajectory towards me, Sasuke was gaining an advantage too quickly and he needed to do something to stop the Uchiha. Sasuke was too fast though, he wrapped his arm around my waist and pushed us in the air, away from the attack. I forced my chakra to move, it grit against my coils like sandpaper, burned like pouring hot water over freezing fingers but I forced it to circulate faster and faster so I could stop being in the way. The heat radiating from his was good as well, if I could heat inside and out quick enough I could fight.

"Just... don't let me go yet. You're warm and I'm starting to feel again." He nodded and put me on his back, my legs wrapped around him tightly. My fingers twitched, my body spasming back to life. I shivered but it was fine, I was warmer. My chakra was circulating quickly, heating up at the friction and I was able to move. Sasuke released me and we switched from one on one to fighting together.

Then, on one of our combo attacks, this time I infused my fists with lightning chakra, and Sasuke sent bolts of lightning at the masked senbon wielder, when one landed and Haku was falling, I hit him with my fist and sent him crashing through one of his mirrors. While he was down, I punched a mirror, shattering it. We ran out of the mirrors and Haku was standing mask less, his face looked so broken when he asked us to kill him for failing Zabuza, his eyes were that of someone who had nothing left for themselves. I knew that look, that self hate and feeling of uselessness. Baku wasn't going to die, not with eyes like that. I wanted them to shine with acceptance, I wanted him to feel like he had a purpose before he could go to the other side.

"Please, you are not just a tool. You are worth something, you mean something to me. I can't let you die, I want to show you love and happiness and family. You and Zabuza together. Please just don't think of yourself like that, join me with Zabuza and I will show you everything you're missing. Even if you don't see it now, there is so much to live and fight for." My voice broke slightly and my arms squeezed him tightly. Haku looked at me in shock, awe, respect and then it all turned into determination, sorrow, and regret. The loud chirping of birds echoed in the wind, I could feel the deadly power radiating off of Kakashi.

"I'm sorry, I would have liked to learn love from you. Take care of Zabuza for me." Haku lips brished mine before he was gone. Right before the Chidori struck, I body flickered in front of Haku, sending a bunch of chakra into my shoulder as a hopeful barrier against Kakashi's chidori, to at least make sure it doesn't fry my body completely. I could feel his chidori exit through the back of my scapula and heard the horrific sound of it piercing through more flesh. I let out a hiss, holding in my screams. A hand reached from behind me and grabbed Kakashi's hand in a vice grip. Kakashi didn't seem to notice, his eyes were directed solely on me. So much pain and fear was running through across his eyes. I gave him a small smile, hoping I'm not going to die, I tried to talk, but the pain was too much. I could feel Kakashi's whole body shaking and the area around me was getting more and more blurry. My body went numb and everything shut off, plunging me into darkness.

Everyone stood frozen in shock as Hinata smiled, closing her eyes and allowing her body to slump around Kakashi's arm, still plunged through her shoulder, directly above her heart. Kakashi was shaking in shock and fear of the possibility that he killed another one of his precious comrades with a chidori to the chest. He didn't even realize the grip the person behind Hinata had until Zabuza brought him out of his panic with a deep emotionless chuckle. Kakashi finally forced his eyes to move behind Hinata, seeing that his hand not only pierced through Hinata's shoulder, but also through the masked nin, in their attempt to protect Zabuza. The masked was slumped down, surely dead from the direct heart shot.

"Looks like Haku, and that little brat finally made use of themselves eh Kakashi. I thought I was going to die." Zabuza mocked, using his assholeness as an aid to suppress the pain of watching his precious surrogate little brother sacrifice himself. He was also confused on why an enemy, that weird girl, was willing to try to take the blow for Haku and himself. Kakashi growled at Zabuza, the look in his eyes were feral, deadly. Finally, the look fitting for the cold blooded killer Kakashi is said to be. Before Kakashi could retaliate, a giant swing of orange chakra blasted Zabuza into the wall. Everyone still alive/awake on the bridge were almost cowering at the overwhelming demonic aura coming from Naruto. All eyes were on Naruto, his normally sunny demeanor was gone, replaced with that of pure rage. His normally cerulean blue eyes were a blood red with animalistic slits as pupils, his whiskers darkened to a deep black, his normally long canines were as long as a wolf's being bared as a warning, surrounding him was a mass of ferocious orange swirling chakra. Naruto let out a beastly roar, his voice melding with the Kyuubi.

"**I'll kill you ALL for hurting her."** Naruto's chakra blindly lashed out hitting everyone, save for Hinata, in his vicinity. Sasuke just let the attack happen, too in shock and pain of watching his beloved be struck down without him being there to help. Sasuke felt helpless and deserving to die, so he didn't even flinch when he was thrown into the railing of the bridge. Before Naruto could deliver his final blows to each of the people on the bridge, an oily looking short man and his crew of thugs showed up on the bridge. Naruto's bloodlust was excited, ready to kill each of the men daring to come near him. Naruto prepared to attack, but the ugly short man spoke first.

"Ah Zabuza, it's a shame a baby demon like yourself couldn't have taken out more of these ninja for me. Oh well, our deal is over anyways, you won't be leaving this bridge alive, you're too expensive." Gato made his way to Hinata and Haku. He kicked Haku for breaking his arm, then proceeded to prod the unconscious Hinata. "Too bad she died, she'd make me a pretty penny."

"Gato, you're dead." Zabuza and Kakashi growled, deciding to team up to kill this filthy man and his lack of respect for anyone. Naruto's wild chakra flared when he learned that that ugly man was the one, loving Hinata wanted kill so badly, he deserves death. Then when Gato made the comment about Hinata, Naruto's mind gave out completely for a moment and within an instant, Naruto was flying, he tore apart each and every one of Gato's men, and when he got to Gato, he savored the feeling of his chakra tail piercing Gato and throwing him off the bridge into the deadly waters below. Everyone watched in a mix of fear and awe, and before Naruto could turn to finish his job, a small whimper escaped the girl on the bridge. Naruto's chakra went away completely and he rushed to his best friends side in happy relief that she's alive. Kakashi felt relief on his chest that he didn't kill another teammate, but guilt for hurting one and putting them so close to death. Sasuke was still numb, he couldn't think or feel anything. Zabuza was just preparing to leave and hide from the demon blonde, but before he could. Naruto gave him a speech about friendship, love, and devotion. All of those things Haku had with him, then said how he better wait until Hinata wakes up so they can talk about her saving him. Zabuza begrudgingly agreed, knowing that if he didn't one of the three boys would mercilessly murder him. Lets face it, Zabuza doesn't want to die yet. Maybe he can atone for his sins and end up with Haku someday.

They all made their way to Tazuna's house, Zabuza being pulled along by Kakashi, in chains like some kind of criminal. Hinata was being carried by Tazuna, making sure not to jostle her at all. Naruto was all but dragging Sasuke, who's mind was still melted. There were no hospitals for Hinata to visit, so they made it to Tazuna's house. Hinata was quickly put into Tsunami's room so she could lay on a proper bed. Kakashi sent for a medical ninja, but while they waited, Tsunami had to make do. Tsunami, with her basic medical knowledge and Kakashi's insight of what happened and where, Tsunami carefully stripped the lavender eyes beauty and cleaned out her wound, trying to ignore the whimpers and how her face scrunched with pain.

After the wound was fully cleaned, a medical salve Haku made for Zabuza was applied, then Tsunami bandaged Hinata with the fresh bandages Kakashi provided. Giving her some more decency, Tsunami covered the injured girl in one of Tazuna's large sleep shirts, doing so carefully enough not to move her arm through any holes. She then brushed out the girls tangly hair and carefully washed out the blood, doing so to the rest of her body too. She carefully tended and cleaned the girl she came to adore, wondering how fate could be so cruel over and over to such a fun girl. After what seemed like forever for the boys, they were aloud to go see her.

Sasuke was the first one in the room, when he saw Hinata once again unconcious and covered in bandages, it hurt. She looked dead, but when he saw her chest rise up and down slow and steady, Sasuke's mind began to work again. "She's not dead." Is what he was thinking, and as he laid in the bed next to his best friend/family, he grabbed her free hand, berating himself and promising over and over to protect her, never letting this happen on his watch again. Everyone just watched, his teammates know the bond Hinata and Sasuke have.

After a while of letting them be alone together, Naruto and Kakashi finally moved to sit in the chairs at Hinata's bedside. Naruto was shocked and in pain at seeing his best friend hurt like this, but he couldn't help but be happy she's alive. He remembered the horrible feeling that came over him as he watched Kakashi impale her, and her body go limp. It was a rage he couldn't control and didn't know who to direct it at. His face morphed from happiness to sadness when he thought about how he was going to tell her (and explain to Sasuke) about his demon, and what happened on the bridge. Without a second thought, he killed over 50 men. Naruto kept thinking he's really a demon and is afraid Hinata will soon see him as one.

Kakashi was in a state of panic and PTSD. He clenched and unclenched his hands, body sweating and shaking. When he struck through Hinata, it gave him flashbacks to killing Rin and Obito. Kakashi couldn't look at Hinata, knowing he did it made him feel dirty. He was finally getting over the nightmares and no longer saw Rin's blood on his hands everywhere he was, that was helped greatly by his wonderful three students. Now as Kakashi looked down at his hands, all he could see was blood, and now there was a new addition, Hinata's, a student he vowed to protect. He really is a monster, a friend killer. His mind was sending him back into the abyss, but a small light was shining through at the expression of his students, he didn't kill another friend, she's alive this time. And at this moment, his resolve strengthened more than ever to protect and train his Genin so he doesn't have to worry about them ending up in a state like this by anyone else's hands, and hopefully he will learn to not let this happen by his own.

Zabuza was sitting tied up in the corner his eyes unwavering on the girl who was laying half-dead in front of him. His thoughts were reeling, mainly with confusion, at the anomaly that was the Hyuuga girl. She was a strong, annoying brat who tried to save 2 rogue ninja. He was waiting for the girl to wake up to ask her why she jumped in front of him and Haku to save them. Zabuza knew Haku like the back of his hand, and when Hinata jumped in front of him, Haku let out a pained cry, not out of pain from his heart being impaled physically, but emotionally. Something happened between the two and Zabuza wanted to know why and how they cared about each other so much. Zabuza did not trust Kakashi or the Uchiha brat, he tolerated the blonde demon boy, but the girl, he decided to trust. She was willing to save him, he will speak with her and decide what to do from there. Maybe this girl will be the key in his atonement and saving his soul from the fucked up life that was forced upon him living in a village like Kiri, under the leadership of an evil Mizukage.

Everyone was in their own thoughts, when a panicked cry burst into the room. Eyes watched at a young boy, no older than 8 shoved the Uchiha out of the way and carefully held the injured girl's hand weeping. Everyone, but Zabuza who watched in slight amusement, as the young boy cried over the girl who saved his life in more ways than one.

"Neechan, Neechan, wake up soon. You can't end up like dad, you promised. You promised to be a hero. You have to be ok." The boy wailed into her arm. Everyone watched in silence, even the possessive Sasuke, decided to let the boy have his moment as he cried himself to sleep waiting for his Neechan to wake up. For the next few days, Hinata stayed asleep, she was given pills by the med ninja that finally arrived to keep her asleep so she can heal and be transported home. During that time, everyone except the person guarding Tazuna as he finished construction, stayed in Hinata's room watching over her.

The medical ninja explained to her team that the main reason Hinata survived and was able to heal so quick was because she somehow coated her shoulder in a protective chakra, causing Kakashi's chidori to cut straight through, instead of rip and tear apart at the wound like it normally does, it helped cancel the lightning aspect. Everyone was stunned at the skill and amazement Hinata had to save herself. Finally after 5 days, her wound was healed, a slight barely noticeable scar remained thanks to the wonders of medical jutsu. The med ninja left giving them the go for her to wake up and move around, as long as she kept her arm in the sling until the broken clavicle regained full strength. Everyone was excited for her to wake up, especially Zabuza who needed answers and now. He didn't like not knowing things that dealt with him or Haku, not at all.

The first thing I felt was the tight bandages wrapped around my shoulder. I tired to flex my hand, but it felt weak and sent a slight jolt through my shoulder. Damn, who knew taking a chidori to the shoulder would hurt so bad. I groaned at the slight discomfort of moving around. I opened my eyes and there was someone hovering over me, I readied myself to attack, but when my vision cleared, it was just Inari with a bright smile on his face.

"Nee-chan you're awake. I thought you were going to break our promise." He said hugging me tightly. I ran my hand thats not in a sling through his hair humming in happiness.

"Hey, I promised, and I wasn't going to break my promise so soon." I said, my voice cracking and weak from lack of use. Inari looked at me in relief and I smiled brightly in return. "Where is everyone else. I need to talk to them." Inari jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, calling over his shoulder that he was going to get everyone else. In a minute, the door was busted down and in came my teammates, Tazuna, Tsunami, and Zabuza.

"Hinata-chan, you're awake, you scared me so bad dattebayo!" Naruto yelled as he was about to glomp me. I prepared for the impact, but midair in his attack, Kakashi snatched him by the back of his shirt, an annoyed twitch of his eye occurred.

"Don't attack the injured girl." I giggled at Naruto's face, he looked mad at Kakashi but relieved he didn't hurt me. I took one more look around and noticed Haku was missing. I looked to the tied up Zabuza, Haku should be with him.

"Guys, where is Haku, I wanted to talk to him." I watched as everyone began to shift uncomfortably and their faces looked crestfallen, Zabuza especially. "Guys?" I asked a bit more hesitant. If what I'm thinking is right, I don't think I'll be alright.

"Hinata, when I struck you, the chidori went through your shoulder and into Haku's heart." Kakashi said straightforward, his voice seemed distant.

"W-what, no." I whispered. Naruto grabbed my hand tightly and let me squeeze it. Zabuza finally spoke up.

"He's dead and you and I need to talk." His voice was gruff but lacking the usual snideness, he was demanding, yet seemed confused. I nodded, still shocked about my failure of saving Haku. At least I saved one of the two, but hopefully the Demon Zabuza isn't going to go back to his evil ways.

"Yes, leave us please. We need some privacy."

"Freak, I'm not leaving you with a monster like him. He tried to kill all of us." Sasuke said, his voice was cold and demanding. It sent a shiver down my spine at the tone. Naruto and Kakashi agreed with Sasuke, but I was not in agreement with them.

"As much as I love that you care, this isn't your decision, Zabuza is chained up and I don't think he's going to kill me. Give us 5 minutes please." They all reluctantly agreed and left the room, leaving me face to face with Zabuza. We both looked a little worse for wear.

"Why the hell would you jump in front of a chidori to save Haku and I."

"I didn't want you to die."

"Clearly brat, I know thats why people sacrifice themselves, I want to know why. What happened between you and Haku that made him cry out when you ended up in front of him." I thought back to what happened to Haku and I. I unconsciously touched my lips, something Zabuza noticed. "That damn boy, right before he died, he finally kissed a girl. I was beginning to think he was into boys." Zabuza's voice was amused and proud, but had a twinge of sadness in it.

"Heh, yeah, he kissed me. I got in front of the attack to save you guys because I didn't think either of you deserved to die. Haku was a pure heart and from what Haku told me, the way you took him in makes me think you're not a demon like people say, and I know how the bloody mist operated. I thought if I could save you, you'd come home with me and I could show you guys a life you deserve. That's what I told Haku before he sacrificed himself. He said he wanted that, but I guess I can never give him it. Maybe I could still help you with that though, I think Haku would want you to be safe and happy." I said, I was rambling, but I didn't know how to fully explain how I don't think they should die. I didn't want to talk about Haku because I felt like a failure for my inability to save him.

"Dumb brat. I don't need your sympathy, I'm a demon of the mist." I gave him an annoyed glare at his pride. "But, even if your teammates are annoying, I can't help but to trust you. If Haku trusted you, then to honor him I will too. If your Hokage allows it, I will return with you as your protector. I want to atone for my sins I caused for Haku, and for me to possibly reunite with him in death. You are an annoying brat but you have balls and I like that. It's what Haku would want and I failed him in his life, I wont fail him in his death." I sat staring at him for eternity. Never in my wildest dreams did I think Zabuza would say that, or want to protect me. Having Haku die, and the fast connection Haku and I made really helped something I guess. Even if I failed saving him, I can save his precious person. Zabuza wants to atone for his sins and live for Haku, if that means protecting me, I'm ok with that. Plus Zabuza is a badass and funny, so I would like to have him around. I finally collected my thoughts and a wide grin spread across my face. I got off the bed and hugged Zabuza much to his dismay. His twitch in annoyance and his inability to get me off made me laugh manically.

"You look stupid with that face brat. Get off of me." I laughed harder. Our five minutes must be up because everyone barged in the room, I was pulled off of Zabuza and curious looks were sent to us.

"Hinata-chan, what the hell happened, why were you hugging eyebrow-less?" Naruto questioned in Naruto fashion. I explained the conversation Zabuza and I had, leaving everyone in disbelief. Kakashi still seemed way out of it though, I expected him to put up a fight but he just went along with it. After some time convincing them, everyone agreed to allow Zabuza to come, if he agreed to go to TI and prove his loyalty. When that was done with, it was time for me to learn what happened on the bridge. I asked about it, and I noticed how all eyes drifted to Naru, who looked tense. I figured out something big happened revolving around Naruto, possibly 9 tails related, I need to know what.

"Hey Naru, mind telling me what happened." Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly and his looked a nervous wreck. I grabbed his hand and promised that he could tell me anything and I wouldn't judge him. Finally after a few minutes of him fidgeting and debating in his mind, he told me everything he could remember. He told me about the overwhelming anger he felt surge when he thought I died and how it didn't matter who was there, he wanted to take them all out. He then broke down crying, telling me about how he killed all Gato's men on the bridge without a second thought. I know the guilt was eating him, his heart is too kind and pure for that kind of pain. Finally, he told me about how he could do it, he told me about the 9 tails being sealed inside of him. He asked if I thought he was a monster, but instead of shunning him like I knew he thought I would, I hugged him tightly letting him cry out his pain.

"Naru, you idiot, I would never hate you because you have the 9 tails inside of you. I love you too much for that. Who would my pranking buddy be? PThink of it not like you have a demon, but you have a power upgrade that nobody else has." Naruto stopped crying and finally hugged me tightly telling me how awesome I am, how awesome he is with his super powers and how it will help him beat Teme, and that he's glad we can still be best friends. I have two people down and two to go. Sasuke basically dragged Naruto out of the room, leaving it just the two of us. Before I could say anything, I was trapped by a shaking Sasuke. His chin was resting on top of my head, and I was held tightly in his embrace.

"Dammit Hinata, I almost lost you, I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't protect you. What would I do if you died, did you even think about that. Why would you be such a baka and try to protect them like that?" I just let Sasuke continue to rant and yell at me, his voice trembling in sadness, pain, and anger. His grip on me continuously tightened.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm still here. You're not going to lose me just yet." Sasuke finally cracked a slight smile, although it ended up looking more like a grimace. I turned myself around and tucked my head into his neck getting comfortable, letting him hold me like when we were little. I stayed with Sasuke as he mumbled insults to me and lightly rubbed my injured shoulder. I should have been offended by how many names he came up for me, but in reality I knew it was his way of showing me his love. There was a knock on the door and Sasuke finally let me go, he planted a kiss on my forehead and said how Shisui is going to kill him for me getting injured. I laughed at the truth of the statement, although I'm going to die from him and others too, when they fins out what happened. I'm most scared to face Shikamaru, him angry is scarier than even my dad. Tsunami stuck her head in saying its dinner time. My stomach growled loudly in agreement. I hopped out of the bed and basically ran down the stairs into the kitchen. I sat in the seat next to Inari and grubbed down on the food, eating so fast I didn't even taste it. Noticeably, the only person missing from Dinner was Kakashi. Even Zabuza, who was being fed by tsunami much to my enjoyment, was there.

Kakashi seemed so off and I know its because of what happened. I cant believe I didn't think about how watching another one of his teammates be struck by his chidori would mess with his head. That's how Rin died, Kami I'm such an insensitive jackass sometimes. I got up from the table and turned on my Byakugan looking around for Kakashi. I went outside and saw him sitting in a tree, staring blankly at his hands. He's normally so alert; yet, he didn't notice me climb up the tree until I was sitting right next to him. He looked at me, his eye was still glazed over and distant. I didn't like that look at all, it was the same one I had when my mom died. I tried to shake Kakashi out of his whatevr it was, but nothing I did got a reaction. I needed him to talk to me, so I placed my hands in his and started pushing my chakra into his hands, slightly shocking him. He jolted slightly and his eyes sharpened, focusing on me. His emotions were unreadable and I just sat there as he stared at me. Finally, fed up with his weirdness, I decided to fix the situation.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think about how you would feel when you hit me." I said my head down, unable to look him in the eye. I was expecting a reply, but instead, I got hit extremely hard in the back of my head, then pulled into a crushing hug.

"Are you seriously crazy enough to jump in front of my attack like that, I know you're strong, but you're not invincible. You idiot, do you know how that felt, I almost killed you, just like… I thought you died. I thought I killed you, I killed a comrade again. I'm supposed to protect you, yet I failed again." Kakashi's voice went from enraged to shaky in a whisper. My heart broke at the pain in his voice, I can't imagine all of the flashbacks he could have been having. I moved myself to play with his hair, it always soothed me when Sasuke or Shisui would do it, so I thought it would sooth him.

"Hey, I'm alive. I'm fine, you didn't kill me. I'm fine, look at me. It's nothing but a little scratch." Kakashi took a deep breath and looked up at me. I cracked a smile at his annoyed face of me calling it a scratch. For a second he looked ready to push me out of the tree. After a few more minutes of me touching his hair, which is so soft by the way, I got him to talk to me about it. He told me a bit about Rin and how she died, then why it was so hard when I did the same thing she did. He said how all he cold see was blood on his hands. He then also promised that if I ever did it again, he would suspend me faster than I could blink. I knew he wasn't kidding even if it seemed like it. Finally all was good, and even though he still seemed a bit tense, he went back to his quirky self. We rejoined everyone inside and since the bridge is finished, we get to return home tomorrow.

I can't wait to see how the village acts when Zabuza arrives. He is going to clash so hard with my stoic family, and I cant wait. His vile mouth versus the proper Hyuuga clan. Maybe I can get him to scare Kiba for me, thats always fun.

In the morning, we packed up and got ready to leave. I didn't have to do any work, Zabuza was forced to do it all for me. He also had to carry all of my stuff on the way home. We said our goodbye's full of tears and started our journey home. The journey was long but fun, because on the walk home, I got to bug Zabuza. He does not like happy physical contact, Naruto's idiocy, and basically everything. He aslo has a short fuse so I could aggravate him easily. Even better than irritating Zabuza was getting Zabuza to help me irritate Sasuke, my favorite pastime. Zabuza is 100 percent a dick and knows exactly which buttons to push to piss off people like Sasuke. Sasuke lost his cool after Zabuza taunted him about his duckass hair and how his 'girlfriend' is stronger than him. Sasuke turned to attack, but before he could, I wrapped my good arm around him and jumped on his back sending him sprawling to the ground, much to Naruto's pleasure. Also watching Zabuza call Sasuke a shrimpy duckass made me so happy I couldn't even speak without laughing. Sasuke's glare didn't work either, Zabuza was way more frightening. Kakashi just stayed out of it, reading his porn the whole way.

We arrived through the front gate and Izumo and Kotetsu prepared to fight Zabuza when they realized who he was. Zabuza was amused by the whole situation and prepared for a fight with the little Chunin punks trying to take him down. Kakashi stopped them with a few words and we went to the Hokage office, not without getting the attention of almost all higher ranking ninja. As soon as Zabuza entered after us, all of the ANBU came out of their corners, ready to strike Zabuza down. Zabuza took out his sword ready to fight, but the Hokage stopped his ANBU and I made Zabuza stop, he was pissed about it and mumbling profanities to me under his breath.

The Hokage was exerting a scary level of KI and looked very serious, but the amusement at how Zabuza 'listened' to me was apparent. We explained the whole situation, Zabuza was sent to TI, and we got our money. I waited for Zabuza to get out of TI and when he was released and allowed as my protector, we went home together. Lets just say, bringing home a mass murder as my first guy home was quite a nasty shock to my dad. Zabuza was forced to fight with my father to see if he was worthy of being my protector, he passed, although his sadistic personality made my dad uneasy. Along with my other friends, they didn't like the idea of my already crazy and foul mouthed self hanging out with an even worse mouthed Zabuza.

I got the lecture of my life from each person I went to visit, they were not happy to hear about my almost suicide and my befriending a rogue. Dad decided to make me go to all of the clan meetings I hate, and I had to dress nice and presentable for them. He also grounded me and made me stay in my room for almost 2 days without anything, I couldn't even go to the bathroom.

Shikamaru was the worst though, when he heard what happened, he basically attempted to murder me, yelling about how troublesome I am and how I am the worst friend ever for leaving and almost dying. I should have been touched that he cared enough to exert energy and yell, but Shikamaru promised me the worst type of mental torture for my troublesomeness, even to go far enough to go ask Shisui for help. I know that he meant it too so I'm more worried abut the brainiac than anything. Zabuza, my so called protector, just laughed when he found out that my fearless self was afraid of a lazy ass brat. I was out walking around since I can't train yet, and Shikamaru came up to me, catching my in his shadow. He really gave me the worst form of torture. He made me put on a more grown up version of the evil doll dress with the help of Shisui.

Then they decided to parade me around the village. Zabuza was laughing so hard at me, I wanted to smash his face in. He was making fun of me for being such a cute little princess, any credit I built up with him was taken away. Shikamaru also took me to see Kiba, the one person I needed to avoid looking like this. I cant have my rival seeing me like this. He died laughing saying how the she-male was finally becoming a real woman, and that he knew I had a fetish for doll dresses since the first time Shisui put me in one. He took pictures and berated me, not even scared when I promised him pain in the worst kind of ways. I wanted to hit him, but I couldn't with Shikamaru in control of me. At least I got the final laugh when Zabuza showed up and scared Kiba shitless by threatening him with his big ass sword to Kiba's throat. The look of pure terror on his face when I told him Zabuza was my new friend and Sempai made Kiba go ghostly pale. I'm going to destroy dog boy. He also got more pissed when I told him we were on an A-rank mission, I not so subtly rubbed it in his face, cutting his ego down a bit.

Shino and Choji were the least surprised at my befriending Zabuza because they both decided that with Naruto and I on a team, things were bound to get weird. It's very true though. It's also very fun to walk around the village with Zabuza, he is on constant watch and probation, but people are still wary of him. I know it's a sight to see me the small Hyuga princess walking around with a big scary looking guy like Zabuza. Espically when he doesn't wear a mask and smiles with his sharp teeth, people look ready to pee themselves which we both take great pleasure in. Sometimes I wish I could be scary like that, but it's also fun being a pretty looking girl then come out and kick ass.

Neji had the best reaction to Zabuza, the ever so proper and destiny prone boy and foul mouthed sadistic demon clashed in the best of ways. Neji did not like Zabuza in the least, and Zabuza did not like Neji. They clashed in words, Neji saying it's Zabuza's destiny to basically suck, and Zabuza telling him his destiny crap can suck his dick. Lets just say it was one of the greatest meetings ever, even with my language, I could not piss Neji off the way Zabuza could, he even went to calling him an "improper swine" to which Zabuza retailated with barring his teeth and calling Neji a bitch boy who will never make it as a real ninja. Neji also felt like Zabuza stole his job, but I promised that he was my Niisan, and Zabuza is just my Sempai. What a wonderful duo they will be.

After 2 weeks of being home, I was cleared to train. I trained a lot with Team 7, Kakashi upped our training by a lot most likely for preparation of the Chunin exams. Him and Zabuza took great pleasure in our horrible training, they incorporated bloody mist training, basically full out survival training, but we were only aloud to use taijutsu while they could use anything they wanted. I train more than most, but Kakashi and Zabuza's form of training must have been from hell. Not only did we run until we puked, Kakashi and Zabuza would make us practice dodging by them attacking us in any ways necessary, for hours nonstop. You'll never know true fear until Zabuza and Kakashi roll in the mist and begin laughing.

They forbid my Byakugan and attacked us mercilessly. Naruto, Sasuke, and I ended every practice nursing out cuts and massive bruises while our psycho sensei's read their porn. Never in my wildest dreams did I think calm and cool Kakashi would befriend hot headed Zabuza, I guess a mutual like for scaring children and their love to spar with one another gave them a bond. The up side to our torture training was we got even better and Kakashi bought us ramen a lot, I think I was basically becoming ramen. When I wasn't training with Team 7, I trained by myself or with my dad. Training with my dad was well worth it, I finally competed the 8 Trigrams and my dad was glowing like a proud pregnant lady when I did. He was even willing to buy me and Hanabi dango as a celebratory gift. I told Sasuke and he paled, making me promise not to use it on him. The 8 palms was enough.

There is also that little detail of how the fuck is the Chunin exams going to go down...I mean a bloodthirsty Gaara and a Snake man who could kill me with a flick of a finger, just fan-fucking-tastic.

I want to help Gaara, he's such a kind dude later on and he deserves so much more than the shitty life that was handed to him. I want to show him people care about him, and with the help of Naruto we can do that sooner rather than later. Living with no love and everyone being afraid is not easy and I want him to feel love without Shukaku messing with his mind and ruining it. Orochimaru, as much as most people don't agree, I don't hate him. I firmly believe he is a psychopath, but I don't think he is a monster. The way people treated him and his curiosity made him the way he is, also the bastard Danzo had a big influence on him turning evil. I also relate to Orochimaru a lot because I understand his curiosity and strong desire to learn and perfect everything possible, I am the same way, his turned him to the evil side of it, but I think that someday I can change his mind and show him how being on the good side will end up better. I wont be on his side right now, he's a massive dick deserving an ass beating, but one day.

If it comes down to it, I will fight Orochimaru with all of my strength to protect Sasuke. if Orochimaru wants to hurt Sasuke, I will destroy him...well you know I'll probably do something epically stupid to draw attention away from Sasuke. Orochimaru likes power and if I give him something better to focus on, or at least die trying, I can hopefully stall long enough for help or something.

My biggest problem is Kabuto, I hate him with every fiber of my being. I want to punch his four eyes until he bleeds. He is a creepy psychopath that is super gay for Orochimaru, and he illed so many as well as defiled so many of the dead in the 4th Shinobi War. I mean Orochimaru did too, but I still hate Kabuto way more. I just want to end him. Orochimaru experiments for knowledge, Kabuto does it for pleasure. There are only three people I want to destroy in this world right now, Danzo is number 1, Zetsu is number 2, and Kabuto is number 3. I also don't know what to do about the invasion, I cant prevent it, but I don't know how to make the outcome better. Should I save Lord 3d or not, I need Tsunade, but am I willing to let another person die is my dilemma. Either way, I don't know what I can do to even make a change in anything on that aspect of it.

During our missions which were all D-rank, Naruto fucked up a lot, like a lot. We ended up completing over 300 by now, but not without bodily harm to our clone boy. He may be a super strong ninja, but he's a complete dumbass. He pulled out herbs instead of weeds, fell off a waterfall, and allowed one of Kakashi's biggest ninken to pull him into a minefield, leaving him incapable of walking without aid of Sasuke and I. Of course, Sasuke took this time to taunt Naruto and piss him off. As much as I love them, they both annoyed me so much with the nonstop bickering, it wasn't even that friendly anymore. To make our teamwork go back on track, I got the help of Kakashi and Zabuza and locked them in a room together for a few days, until they worked out their issues. They finally teamed up to attack us and get out when we told everyone else that they were on a date. I mean, they kissed so it wasn't that hard to make people believe it. I took great pleasure in making SasuNaru happen and Shisui liked it even more than I did. Zabuza even took to calling Sasuke the Uke just to make his edge lord self have some emotions. Thank Kami Zabuza was placed under jurisdiction of our team, he made it even more fun to irritate people. Oh, team bonding at its finest.

**A lot of people have a problem with this chapter...understandable because Hinata does something stupid but I wanted to let you know that she is still a kid...she was a kid when she died the first time and isn't more mature than before. She didn't think of the implications her actions would have on Kakashi until after. She may be smart but she is still reckless and an idiot and sees this life as a game right now...this scene is meant to be hated because it shows she's not as smart as she and other people think she is. Also, she isn't suicidal, she aimed it at her shoulder as to not die...so yeah. I get it, this story was still new and I was deciding what to write but I hope this clears some things up..**


	10. Aiming for the top

_(3d POV) During the Chunin Exam Nominations_

All of the Jonin, except Kakashi, as well as the Chunin academy instructors were gathered in a meeting hall, ordered by the Hokage. Everyone was idly chatting with one another when the final member decided to show up. With his flashy as ever entrance, and cocky yet laid back attitude, the silver haired Kakashi poofed in the middle of the room. All of the eyes turned to him, many rolling their eyes up to heaven at his annoying act of being late to everything. The Hokage decided to start the meeting, brushing off Kakashi's lateness by commanding him to join the other Jounin instructors.

"The Chunin exams are being held in Konoha this year, there are many promising genin, Jounin Senseis, who would you like to nominate for the Chunin exams this year? Speak now." Gai, clad in his green spandex was the first to step forward. With his trademark pose, he shouted his nomination of his three youthful Genin: Neji, Tenten, and Lee. Nobody had any qualms at this nomination, each of the Genin were respected enough in their skills, and even if the other ninja believe Gai is a nutcase, they all know his strength is not to be messed with, same goes for his Genin. A few other Jonin nominated their Genin with no questions or concerns. That was until the three rookie instructors decided to nominate their Genin, making them the first rookie teams in over 5 years.

"I Asuma Sarutobi nominate Team 10 Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi for the Chunin exams."

"I Kruenai Yuhi nominate Team 8 Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sakura Haruno for the Chunin exams."

"I Kakashi Hatake nominate Team 7 Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Hinata Hyuuga for the Chunin exams." Iruka was shocked after each nomination, his eyes growing wider after each of his rookie students were nominated. The final straw came at Kakashi's nomination.

"Kakashi-sama are you crazy, I know my students, Naruto... the rookies are not ready for this kind of thing. Are you trying to break them?" Iruka shouted infuriated at the Jounin. How could he try to nominate a dead last like Naruto, a son figure, to be in something as dangerous as the Chunin exams. Kakashi sent a glare to Iruka, everyone in the meeting could feel the tenseness of the situation, but couldn't step in, this is their issue to resolve. Many of the Jonin agreed with Iruka, nominating rookie Genin, especially a deadlast demon like Naruto had most of them frowning and wondering of the stability of the already fragile Kakashi Hatake.

"With all due respect Iruka-san, these Genin are no longer your students now, they are under my jurisdiction, they are my soldiers and I can do what I please with them. I do think they are ready, so ready in fact that I think they have a high possibility of being the top three in the exams each one of them was holding back in the academy, one of my students is even ready to become a Jonin, so weather you like it or not, they are entering the exams." Kakashi spoke with a steel edge in his voice, but talking about his students, all of the Jonin noticed the fondness the previously cold man had. Everyone's thoughts were reeling, trying to comprehend Kakashi's words. All of his Genin were holding back, the top students and the deadlast are all more powerful than anybody knows about, and if he is so confident, they must be something special. It was chilling for each of the people in the room to find out that they had been played by mere Genin, and do not know the true power of the Jinchuriki demon and his teammates. To conclude the meeting and help Iruka feel more calm about the situation, he allowed for Iruka to do a small preliminary test for each of his rookie students so they could prove they were ready.

(Hinata POV)

I woke up at 6 in the morning, pissed off. Kakashi is making us meet at 6:30, of course he is going to show up late, but now he has Zabuza keep watch on me since I figured out to show up late. It's annoying because if I'm late, I have to run double of what the boys do. Moments like that are why I wonder why I even like Kakashi. So here I am now, pissed off because it's early and I'm awake at our training ground waiting for my bastard of a sensei to show up and give us a mission. I was meditating on flowing my chakra at a constant level, its hard to do without water, but I still needed to practice, Zabuza was sharpening his beloved Kubikiribōchō, Naru was grumbling about Kakashi and his bad cleaning habits, which I feel on a deep level, and Sasuke was being Sasuke, standing there with his hands in his pockets and glaring at nothing like a weirdo. Finally Kakashi showed up crouching on the railing of the bridge.

"Yo. Sorry I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life." He said with a wave and an eye smile. My eye twitched, Naruto was just pissed.

"More like you too into reading your porn and had to take care of yourself before you came here." I thought I mumbled it, but by the reactions everyone had, I was a lot louder than I meant to be. Kakashi was bright red and shaking his hands furiously in protest, Zabuza was letting out a loud scary laugh and gave me a pat on the back, Sasuke was glaring harshly but he had a faint blush on his face, and Naruto was just very confused about what I meant, the poor innocent boy.

"Hinata-chan, what was he taking care of?" Sasuke and Kakashi paled greatly, Zabuza looked amused and I cracked my knuckles a shit eating grin plastered on my face, ready to give him the lesson of his life. After everything, especially Lady Seiko's lessons I am a master at this kind of information.

"You see when somebody gets horny and-" Kakashi slapped his hand on my mouth and pinned me to the ground. He whispered harshly in my ear.

"You finish that sentence and I will put you on probation for a month." I nodded quickly, I don't want probation, I need to do my ninja stuff. Kakashi released me and I stood up brushing off the dirt on my clothes. Sasuke gave me a harsh jab to the ribs, he didn't like my little lesson either. Kakashi cleared his throat and told us today we have a special training. We were all amped up, Naruto had fire burning in his eyes, ready for a new training session. How much we all regret that, we should have know new training didn't mean nicer training. I would like to call this training from hell. Apparently Kakashi thought it would be fun to gather some of his retired ANBU friends and along with Zabuza, we would have to hide and stay away from them. No jutsu aloud either. Plus, every time we get hit by one of them, its 5 laps around the village. ANBU are scary and sadistic and lets just say I was running and flipping for my life. I managed to only get hit a few times, Naruto and Sasuke weren't so lucky. By the end of the session, all of us were puking our guts out from the continuous sprinting we did for hours on end. When Zabuza and Kakashi were carrying us to Sasuke's for dinner, a messenger Hawk was circling above Kakashi. He saw it and gave Sasuke to Zabuza to carry all three of us. Kakashi poofed away for the meeting I'm guessing about nominating everyone for the Chunin exams. Zabuza grumbled about carrying us, but when I promised to take him to scare some of the new academy students if he shut up, he did.

We made it to Sasuke's house and when we entered, Zabuza dumped us on the floor, making me let out some not so nice words to the asshole. I looked up and saw Shisui make his way over, a big smile on his face.

"Is that the sound of my sweet little Imouto's foul mouth?" I pushed myself off the ground, some of my energy regained.

"Shisui-nii!" I jumped, wrapping myself around him. Shisui caught me and put me on his back laughing happily at my PDA for him. Naruto got up next and attacked Shisui as well, whining about how Kakashi's training is even more evil than Shisui's was.

"Sasu-chan, why don't you give your dear old Shisui a hug." Shisui teased at Sasuke's antisocial and awkward behavior. Sasuke rolled his eyes, not that Shisui could see, and walked right past Shisui into the kitchen to cook us dinner.

"Hn." Shisui grabbed where his heart was and faked being in great pain.

"Sasu-chan you wound my poor broken heart. I know you don't love me like you do Naruto but cant you give me one hug." Sasuke threw a knife right by Shisui's head and Naruto screeched in protest. Zabuza and I laughed loudly at the other member of the SasuNaru club. We all slept over at Sasuke's that night, it was fun even when Naruto and Sasuke argued the whole time.

We had all finished breakfast at a small teahouse in town when a pink flurry showed up. Sakura was standing there holding on tightly to Saasuke's arm, begging him to take her out on a date since they haven't seen each other in a while. Sasuke declined Sakura in the harshest of ways I've ever seen, if I hadn't forgiven her I would have laughed. I mean, somebody getting shot down so badly is funny... always. Sasuke said goodbye to me and told Naru and I to meet him for lunch before we have to go meet Kakashi later. Sakura was fuming and sad that Sasuke dissed her but not Naru and I, she sent us a vicious glare which Naruto partially ignored.

Before Naruto could ask her to hang out, she stomped off. We were walking around aimlessly when a square box with holes for eyes started following Naruto every where he went. It was very entertaining to watch him try to outmaneuver the rock. Finally fed up, he turned around and shouted at the box telling them to reveal themselves. A loud bang and a shit ton of smoke later, I was staring at the three cutest kids ever. They were all 8-sh, worshipped Naruto, and were wearing goggles like Naruto used to. The kids noticed me finally as I watched them happily, glad that I wasn't being insulting to them, they turned to me and did their introduction, poses and everything.

"With adult sexiness, I'm Moegi from the senior class of Kunoichi Preschool!" The little blushing girl with orange pigtails that curved and defied gravity.

"I love factoring, I'm Udon!" A little brown haired boy with glasses and a runny nose stated sort of awkwardly.

"The most brilliant ninja in the village, Konohamaru!" The leader of the group, a boy with a long blue scarf and a hell of a lot of confidence stated. Then they all joined together in a very Power Rangers fashion and posed together.

"And we are the Konohamaru Ninja Squad!" They shouted in perfect synchronization. That might have been the dorkiest thing I have ever seen, I LOVED IT! Seeing it in person is just wow, adorable. Naruto rolled his eyes but mine were sparkling. I clapped loudly for the kids and turned to Naruto.

"Oh. My. KAMI! That was so fucking awesome Naru, why don't we have something cool like that. It would be like my very own superhero squad! We have to make one of these now, I'll even get duckbutt and Kakashi-sensei to join in!" Naruto just stared at me in confusion of why I would want to be anything like the littles. I also think he was trying to play cool around them but thats none of my business. I turned my attention back to the Naruto minions. "Hey guys, I'm Hinata, Blondies badass teammate and best friend." All three of the small ones eyes widened and began to glow when they found out who I am.

"You're the Hinata-san that was the best female graduate in Konohoa history, you're even prettier in person, you're my idol!" Moegi squealed, latching on to me. I blushed a bit in embarrassment at the praise. I didn't even know that I was the best female graduate ever, thats so dope, some of my hard work has been showing off. Naruto looked ready to ditch the small fries and go train with me, but before we could bid ado, Konohamaru stopped us with his cute puppy dog eyes.

"Boss, you and your teammate can come play Ninja with us, you promised remember?" Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Heh, I did say that didn't I." Just then, a new voice spoke up, full of annoyance and disgust.

"A ninja playing ninja, how twisted and childish. Not surprising for losers like you two." Naruto and I turned and there was the big forehead, pink haired ex-friend if mine, her face twisted into one of contempt. I rolled my eyes at her bitterness. Naruto was looking at Sakura intently his eyes full of questions, but unlike at the academy, there was no blush on his face. Maybe he really has been thinking about why he likes her and is learning he might not. My boy is growing up. Plus with his big dick power, he is too good for her right now anyways. Maybe if that stick got pulled out of her ass, but whatever. Konohamaru noticed Naruto's intense gaze on Sakura and came to his own conclusion, smirking slyly I was waiting for the question to come.

"Oh boss, who is that, is she... your girlfriend, you smooth operator." The ninja squad looked a bit more impressed with Naruto when they thought he had a girlfriend. I stepped back and watched how the scene would play out. Naruto's face looked a bit wistful at the statement, Sakura on the other hand looked so ashamed and annoyed that the kids would even think she would date Naruto. That pissed me off a lot.

"He, uh you see..." Naruto stuttered, not knowing how to answer. Sakura took the liberty of doing it for him, she wound up and punched him straight in the face. I growled and clenched my fists.

"No way in hell would I date a loser like Naruto." All three of the young students looked in horror and unmasked anger at how poorly Sakura treated Naruto. I was still growling, but Naruto walked up to me and grabbed my arm to calm me down. His eyes were downturned and it broke my heart to see that look of pain yet understanding he has whenever the villagers disrespect him.

"You ugly witch! What kind of girlfriend are you." Konohamaru shouted at her, I giggled lightly at how similar him and Naruto act. Its like a mini clone. Sakura cracked her knuckles and when Naruto walked up to protect Konohamaru, she hit him again.

"Is she even human, I mean with that attitude and large forehead of hers." Everyone's eyes widened at how the air chilled, Sakura looked enraged. She raised her hands to attack the kids and when her fist came down, I flashed in front of her, grasping her fist tightly in mine. The kids and Naruto scurried away. I threw sakura back and followed after them, knowing what was coming next. I arrived, Sakura behind me, right as Konohamaru was sprawled on the ground after running into a boy with a black cat jumpsuit, a puppet on his back, and purple face paint, next to him was a girl with 4 ponytails and a large fan. Kankuro sneered annoyed and picked up Konohamaru by his scarf, pulling him into his face. His friends shouted in fear for Konohamaru, and Naruto looked ready to destroy Kankuro.

"That hurt little punk." He barked out, trying to intimidate everyone. Sakura stepped forward her hands raised in an apologetic manner.

"We were just messing around, no need to hurt him." Kankuro scoffed, Temari just stepped away from the scene. Konohamaru began to kick at Kankuro, trying to get released, it failed, just ended up pissing off Kankuro more.

"You bastard, let him go!" Naruto took a run to stop puppet boy, but before he could, chakra threads were attached to Naruto's feet making him trip and fall. Right as Kankuro's fist was going to connect to Konohamaru's face I flashed down, hitting Kankuro in the arm with a gentle fist strike, numbing it. He dropped Konohamaru into my awaiting arms. I set him behind me and stood defensively in front of everyone. Kankuro is way more of a dick than I thought he would be. I growled, already in a bad mood and he was just making it worse.

"Back off, don't start a fight you cant finish puppet bastard." I growled out, exerting a minor KI, and that made a larger, more deadly one react. Gaara. His presence was overwhelming, the pressure and dark whirlpool of his chakra was so intense and bore down on us, it felt like drowning in syrup, it was so toxic.

"You Bitch, what the hell did you do. I hate brats like you, you're nothing but a pretty princess playing ninja. I was going to show them first, but I guess you need a beatdown first." Kankuro shouted at me, aggravated. He began to unravel his puppet ignoring his teammates protest.

"Don't call Hinata-chan that you bastard. I should destroy you for that." Naruto shouted, growing pissed. Canker was going to retaliate, but I stepped in, ending this before it would progress.

"If attack any of us again, I'll end you quickly. You're no match for me Kankuro of the sand. How would your father feel if you ended the treaty with the leaf, at this rate thats whats going to happen. That little brat is the Hokage's Grandson and I'm the heir to the Hyuuga clan. Attacking either of us would end very badly for you and your village. Do you want the last three Uchiha, my clan, rogue swordsman Zabuza Momochi and the 9 tails Jinchuriki to retaliate for your ego? You're bound to lose. Got it asshole?" I spoke to the two of them, all of my playfulness gone for the moment, I need their attention to be focused on me and not Sasuke. If I can get Gaara's attention, I can get closer to him. Gaara's pressure was intense, but his chakra spiked in interest, not the good kind. The two of them stared at me a bit freaked out with their realization. "And you, the third teammate in the tree come down."

"Kankuro, you're a disgrace to our village, remember what we're here for, if you forget again...I'll kill you." Gaara's low gravelly voice spoke out in annoyance, as he appeared in front of my by a whoosh of sand. That was definitely the coolest thing I've ever seen. Gaara stared me down, his beautiful sea foam and black ringed eyes were filled with sadness and hatred. Even though I wanted to cower at the intensity of his chakra, the way it was burning to even breathe it in, I had to block it out, not sensing the chakra to the best of my ability.

Instead of cowering like my body was yelling at me to do, I stared right into his eyes. It made me sad to see, his eyes flashed with surprise when I didn't flinch away afraid, instead I smiled brightly at him, my entire demeanor changing back to obliviously happy, one thing Naruto taught me was if you are afraid, keeoing a smile on is the best way to fake it until you make it.

"Wholly Hell, that was so awesome, your sand transport is so fucking dope. Hey I'm Hinata Hyuuga, I know you Gaara, one tailed Jinchuriki, no need to introduce yourself. You're a lot cuter in person ya know, you look like a cute redheaded panda." Gaara's sand began to emerge but I didn't move a muscle like the idiot I am. Surprisingly his sand went back into his gourd when I didn't react. "I hope to see you guys again, maybe we can be friends, as long as you keep the puppet bastard on a leash." I said, still smiling. I tried hard not to laugh at the shocked faces of everyone around me. Gaara's eyes were watching me intently, confusion, intrigue, and intense bloodlust was surrounding him. My smile was strained, tense. Naruto was poised and his eyes were blinking in awe, the bloodllust from Gaara was has less of an affect on him than it did me and the others, something from Kuruma probably.

"Hinata Hyuuga, goodbye." Gaara stated emotionlessly, ignoring Naruto saying Gaara want's to know who he is too. Right as he and his team turned around to leave, Sakura opened her mouth to speak up, but I covered it and whispered that they are aloud here for the Chunin exams.

"Wow boss, why aren't you as cool as Hinata-chan?" Konohmamru asked, making me bust out laughing.

"Dude, Naru is cool in his own way, he's not the pranking king for nothing." His little minions eyes sparkled in awe at their boss and Naruto basked in their praise. A bit later, we met with Kakashi, who gave us applications for the Chunin exams. We all gladly signed overflowing with excitement. Before Kakashi could leave, Naruto asked him about puppet users and how to counter their chakra threads, so he and Kakashi went to train on it. Naruto really didn't like Kankuro, I could see the desire to beat him burning within. It was Sasuke and I left, so we went and got food, talking about the Chunin exams. Sasuke really wanted to fight Neji and Naruto in the exams. I want to fight Kabuto and see how I compare to him.

After dinner, Sasuke and I sat at 'his' dock by the lake and just laid there together, formulating about how to take down Danzo and bring Itachi home. It was hard to talk about, like always, but having Sasuke hold me when I would cry about Itachi was helpful in me not losing my mind. I think it was the same for him, he would hold me tighter whenever he would get too angry, calming down. Sasuke went home and I decided to walk around the village since its quiet at night, and I wanted to clear my head before training on my water techniques. I made it to an unmarked pond at the edge of the forest, and decided to do my training here.

I finished my training, panting heavily laying on the ground, but I had a massive grin on my face. I managed to have the water I was controlling move around easier and farther than usual. I was able to control it for a few minutes this time without breaking my concentration. I can also propel myself up to my shoulders and back out with just my chakra. It is exhausting, but it has helped my control over water increase drastically. I finally sat up and could enjoy the scenery around me. The moon was almost full, lighting up everywhere around me.

It reflected of the water, leaving it glistening, the glow of the moon made the trees look so beautiful and serene. I was awed by its beauty and so mesmerized, I didn't see the sand until it was wrapped around my body. I couldn't move but the sand wasn't crushing me...much, so I decided to save my energy for an escape if needed. I allowed the sand to pick me up and I was brought face to face with my favorite panda who looked almost ethereal in the moonlight, too bad he was deadly and probably wanted to kill me.

"Hey Panda-kun." I said with a happy grin, masking the slight unease I felt, god I didn;t know somebodies chakra could make me react so negative. Even Zabuza's KI had nothing on the monstrous danger Gaara exuded. He's unstable and I can't take him lightly right now. I have enough chakra to escape, I can't fight him right now, and even at full capacity I don't think I could really manage to fight him and live, at least without repercussions. Gaara glared at me, his sand squeezing me a bit tighter but not painfully.

"Why, why aren't you afraid. Everyone is afraid, they have to be afraid. Why aren't you afraid, why don't you look at me with those eyes!" Gaara started out as a whisper, but it ended up in a full blown shout, he was clutching his head and his voice was cracking in pain. My heart hurt at the sound of it.

"I see nothing to be afraid of, all I see is a misunderstood boy who was hurt by a bunch of assholes so he lashes out to help his pain. I see somebody who needs love, who is deserving to be loved. Why would I be afraid of that." I told Gaara, my eyes never leaving his. His cold mask stayed on, but his eyes spoke volumes. They were filled with confusion and longing, but then something happened and they turned back into being full of rage. His sand clenched around me painfully and he started shaking, letting out a cruel and psychotic laugh.

"Love, mother said the only one who loves me is myself! If I squeeze tight enough, I can make your fear show, then I can have your BLOOD and prove my existence!" The sand squeezed and I could barely breathe, black spots started dancing in my vision.

"Gaara" I rasped out. "You're wrong, I can show you the love you're missing, I wont let you be alone anymore." His sand stopped squeezing for a second and I used a blast of Chakra out of my Tenketsu points to make his sand release me. I fell to the ground in front of Gaara, gasping for breath.

"No, NO! LIES! Love is fake, the only one who loves me is myself!" I took my chance and walked up to him hesitantly. His sand didn't react, not taking me as a threat, and I put my hand up to his face, cupping his cheeks, making him look me in the eyes.

"I'll never fear you Gaara. I promise. You may hate me or not believe me, but I understand what it's like to be alone. I will be there for you." I cut my hand and allowed blood to spill out of it, suicide probably but whatever. Gaara didn't get excited and murder-y like I thought so I took the opportunity and I pulled Gaara into a hug and felt him stiffen at the unusual contact. Finally he relaxed a bit and I made his arms wrap around me, returning the hug. His body was cold. His grip tightened around me in a possessive grip and he inhaled deeply. Hopefully this means he wont kill me, but only time will tell. A tendril of sand came out of the gourd and attached itself to my wrist...tightly.

"What's this for?"

"I don't believe you, and if I decide you've lied to me like the others, I'll kill you."

"Cool, cool. But let's make a deal. If I can prove to you I'm stronger because of the people I fight for and that I'm not going to try to kill you, you'll sit and listen to what Naruto has to say and if I don't, I'll fight you...to the death if need be." God, I just do dumb shit all of the time. How the hell am I supposed to show somebody as fucked as Gaara the truth without literally beating it into him like Naruto. Maybe, just maybe this will work. Actions are important and hopefully I can prove to him I fight and am strong because of others, not myself and not have to let it get pounded into him.

"Friends are a weakness. I accept, be ready to die Hinata Hyuga." Gaara spun on his heal and left, his shoulders loose and his face stony.

_(3d POV) Team 7 preliminary tests from Iruka Umino_

Naruto was telling the story of him and his teammates defeating their Sensei in the bell test. He was embellishing and telling about his 'amazing' skills during the battle and how he had to help out his Teme of a teammate. Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon were watching in awe of their boss, hanging on to every word he was saying, adding in their own 'ohh's and ahh's' at the appropriate moments. He was getting to the climax of the story, how he made a super awesome gravity seal to take out the Copy Ninja, when a cloaked figure swooped by at ninja speed and grabbed Moegi, hauling ass away from the three boys. Moegi screamed, and her teammates screamed for her, unsure of what to do to take down the enemy ninja.

Naruto acted right away and before the enemy could get too far away, he chased him down, activated his brass knuckles and punched the enemy hard enough to knock him out of the tree and leave a nasty bruise. Naruto used his shadow clones to grab Moegi, and throw the ninja back up to Naruto. Naruto ended the fight with a strong blast of wind, sending the cloaked enemy back to the ground in a fatal blow. Unfortunately the ninja substituted away, running to save their life. The little kids looked at Naruto in pure shock at his awesome skills, he really earned his role as their leader. Moegi even gained a little crush on her hero; she ran up to him hugging him tightly with a blush on her face.

Sasuke was given a new training schedule curtsey of Shisui. He was nearing the end of his workout when Hinata walked up to him, a smile and blush on her face. Sasuke could feel something was off with his Hinata, but decided to play it cool and see what was going on. Hinata walked up and grasped his hand, making Sasuke have a slight blush that didn't go unnoticed by Hinata.

"Sasuke-kun, lets go get some dinner, I'm so hungry and I don't have anything to cook for us tonight."

"Hn." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, his suspicions confirmed. That isn't his Hinata, he knows her like he knows the fireball justu. Hinata would never call him Sasuke-kun, she never blushes around him, and the personality of Hinata was so wrong. Sasuke's hands clenched in anger at a person trying and failing to imitate Hinata. He grabbed out a kunai and swiped it at the fake Hinata still latched on to him.

She jumped back and smirked, releasing the transformation jutsu revealing an enemy ninja. Sasuke made two sets of hand signs, releasing a fireball, then a small lightning jutsu one after another, taking out the enemy ninja instantly. The ninja substituted away and when Sasuke was sure the weak enemy fled, he left to go make dinner for him and Shisui, slightly wishing Hinata really would look at him with a blush.

Hinata was talking to Shikamaru about the success of their theory of the byakugan being able to watch and help imitate creating a justu based on chakra flow alone. They were figuring out how to speed up the process of figuring out the jutsu's flow of chakra, needing to watch it once instead of multiple times. They were laying down under a tree right outside the Nara's compound, Shikamaru's arm around Hinata, watching the clouds and identifying them, as they conversed. Choji came and grabbed Shikamaru for one of their training sessions, leaving Hinata alone to her musings. As soon as they were gone she called out to the ninja she knew was hiding in the tree behind her. She didn't even open her eyes, instead waving her hand in a nonchalant way, letting the ninja know to move on.

"I already know its you Iruka-sensei, move on and test somebody else." The disguised enemy ninja flickered away, onto a rooftop next to the copy ninja Kakashi.

Iruka sat in shock for a few minutes at how much his all of his old students have grown. He knew Team 7 was strong but the skills each of them showed in their tests blew him out of the water. Sasuke was already a basic prodigy, but his use of two justu's back to back stunned Iruka, if he was a lesser Shinobi, he would have been seriously injured by the boy. Hinata didn't even have to open her eyes to know he was there, and she even knew that it was Iruka himself. Naruto came as the biggest shocker, Kakashi said he was strong, but Iruka was speechless at how strong the loudmouthed knucklehead really was. To be able to use his shadow clones so well, have such improved speed, and his use of wind made Iruka proud at how strong his surrogate son was. All of his doubts of Kakashi's high praise of his team flew out the window, leaving Iruka excited to see what's next for his little ninja.

"So believe me now?" Kakashi asked amused, with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. I want to know how Naruto got so strong so quickly." Kakashi let out a chuckle and told his buddy Iruka about Naruto and Hinata's scheme to get on the same team, as well as all of the training all of his students do. He even let Iruka in on some of the real strength of the new team 7, getting him excited to watch them fight, especially Naruto, and how the other Genin will react to the impressive strength of the knucklehead and his team.

* * *

I woke up late in the morning alone by the pond I trained by. I thought that last night was a dream until I looked down at my wrist and the sand bracelet was still there. I guess I did make a friend of Gaara after all, I mean he still might kill me and I'm going to have to kick his ass during the invasion, but a friend nonetheless. I got my bearings, realizing I slept outside, I busted my ass to get home knowing my overprotective dad was going to kick my ass for not coming hime, or at least sending notice I wouldn't be home.

I made it home and tried to sneak into my room, but by the close laughing I could hear from Hanabi, I was fucked. I heard the annoyed tap of a foot and slow turned to see my dad, standing tall and intimidating, sending me a pissed glare. I chuckled sheepishly and turned to run, but he caught me by the back of my shirt and basically dragged me to the training grounds as punishment. He made me do my least favorite training, its basically me running laps until I drop, thats basically past the point of puking, then I have to spar him while he goes full force. I don't like running, and I have a high stamina so I feel like I'm running forever. Once it took almost a whole day for me to drop. I never get out of this training without being bedridden for a day, so I know he's pissed. Dad glared and I jumped up and ran, every few laps he would add resistance to my weights for me to run. It feels like death, honestly being chidori'd hurt less than this does.

I finally dropped to the floor, my legs basically jelly, after hours and hours of running. Dad gave me 5 minutes of rest and a water bottle to finish, before I was dragged up to spar him. We were sparring for a bit, I was moving sluggish, so I was too slow to dodge one of his attacks that should have shut off the chakra to my hand, but instead of being struck, the sand bracelet Gaara put on me wrapped around my hand in a protective gauntlet, blocking the attack from my father. Once the attack was blocked, it morphed back into a bracelet, locking tightly around my wrist. My dad and I both stopped, staring right at the sand bracelet, me in awe and my dad in pure rage. He grabbed my wrist tightly and brought it up to inspect it closer with his Byakugan. He scowled and locked eyes with mine. I wanted to flinch away at the angry look in his eyes, it gave me flashback of when we were younger. He saw my fear and softened his eyes a bit, guilt crossing his features.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked through gritted teeth. I was confused at his anger of me having a bracelet. I mean it's definitely not in my control, but I really don't get his anger. I grinned at him, trying to gage his reactions and why they were happening. He looked even more annoyed. If I wasn't worried, I would have laughed at his distraught emotions.

"It's a friendship bracelet... I think. Its pretty freaking dope anyways, like my own protective gauntlet." Dad's eyes narrowed at my response. He tried to add his own chakra into the sand, but it lashed out at him. Weird, but cool.

"That is no friendship bracelet. It's sand infused with chakra, that melds with yours as a type of claim, and also a tracker. Whoever gave you this does not think of you as friends, he is either marking you as his next victim of hopeful spouse." My eyes widened in realization, I've basically been marked and since the sand is under Gaara's control, I cant make it do what I want. It protects me so when Gaara decides, he can be the one to kill me or be my spouse. I'm thinking he's definitely more on the murder me route.

"Oh fuck." I breathed out, before realizing who I said it in front of. To my surprise, instead of getting hit, dad stayed silent, his face morphed into a morbid one. If my stoic dad is this stressed out, maybe talking to Gaara without the power of Naruto's therapy jutsu fucked me over big time. I might have to fight a tailed beast, and I don't know if I can take him.

"Who put this on you?" Dad asked, his voice shaking in fury, not at me though.

"This kid Gaara from the sand village, after I told him we were friends. He's a jinchuriki like Naruto and looked really sad so I told him I'd be there for him so he's not alone anymore. He tried to strangle me a few times, but stopped and put this on me instead." All emotion fell from my dad's face and as much as the bracelet, and now who gave it to me, worried him, I could tell he wanted nothing more than to face palm at how I told him I was almost killed a few times by the person I basically am forcing to be my friend, even if he is seeming to be more Yandere, or just murderous, by the moment.

Like as cute as Gaara is, if he actually claimed me in the relationship sense, that is like a massive no no. I get that he doesn't know how love and stuff works, I don't get it either, I was an orphan and like a pretty fucked up life of training to kill people, but I don't want him claiming me, just like I didn't allow myself to just be married off to one of the Uchiha. I don;t know how to go about this though, because I could be walking into my death either way, and I could hurt fragile psycho Gaara if I just like make him take it off. I'm just going to pretend it's a super cool, protective, mind of its own, tracker friendship bracelet and not whatever else it is.

"Training is over, go find Kakashi and Zabuza and tell them about this, see if he can do anything. I'm going to figure some things out. Stay away from the sand boy." I nodded, bowed, gave dad a dorky smile, and ran off to find my Sensei, Senpai, and teammates to let them know I've been marked or whatever.

So telling them about my Gaara experience, leaving out little details only, I was bombarded with a flurry of reactions. Kakashi was worried about my safety and went into serious Kakashi mode, studying the sand closely, trying to determine whether it's use is for my demise or as a claim. Zabuza was not stressed, trusting in my skills and abilities to change people, loosely based on how I changed him and Haku. He did promise to gut Gaara in an instant need-be, the big softy. Sasuke was beyond pissed, both at me and Gaara. He had that possessive and protective look in his eyes, I know he now want's to fight Gaara, even if they never met this time. Naruto was just confused about the whole thing, but just like me, he thought it was awesome how the sand would block attacks to my right arm, from the elbow down. It's like in Ben 10 when Kevin can harden his hands to a metal or rock he absorbs, but with sand that I have no control over.

From testing, I figured out the sand is weak to lightning and large surges of chakra. When I use lightning or a chakra surge, forcing it into the sand, it freaks out and either tightens harshly on my wrist making me stop, or it moves around, avoiding the 'attack'. I think I can get off the sand tag and found out the slight weakness to Gaara's kick ass impenetrable defense, but I'm not going to remove the bracelet yet, I want to have it be a symbol to him that I stand by what I said, and we are friends.

I also figured out what to do with Orochimaru, it's a absolutely terrible idea, but it's so terrible, it just might work. Right now, Snake Man is a freaky, Sharingan obsessed, mad scientist with a large cult following, so I have no hope of changing his mind on anything, all I can do is fight him to the best of my abilities. Plus it's not like I have to worry about killing him, he's some kind of ageless bastard that never dies, even when he does die. I just need to hold out in a fight to hopefully keep his hickey of doom from happening, preventing the forced corruption of Sasuke's mind. You know thats just me, deciding to go head to head with the prodigy Sanin, and one who takes fatal blows and just sheds his skin to survive. If cats have nine lives, snakes have ten. Also, overall as a team we are way stronger than the first go round with Snake man, that might be a bad thing, but also is a great thing, especially for when the sound assholes come. With Zabuza's sadistic means, Orochimaru hopefully won't seem as scary to Sasuke.

Today is the last day before the Chunin exams and I spent it resting. I know training would be a great idea because shits about to hit the fan, but me resting the entire day like a lazy ass helped me fully recharge my chakra, my muscles were looser than ever, and my mind was as calm as my mile-a-minute thoughts could be. I woke up at Noon, which was a blessing, oh the luxury I missed of sleeping in so late. I had a super tasty breakfast made by one of my maid/servant people, her names Sari and she is a fantastic cook, the pancakes I had were fluffy and just so good. I went to the hot springs for a bit too, Zabuza came along to enjoy the relaxing fun. I hung out with Shisui, just telling random stories to one another while he played with my hair, tangling it into a freaking mess. Finally, I went home watched a movie, read a part of a book, and went to sleep. It was the laziest and most calming day ever, perfect timing for my last day of serenity.

I woke up a bundle of nerves, yet I couldn't control the excitement I was also feeling. This is it, my time to announce to the world who I am, to showcase how hard I've worked everyday of my life to become strong. It's also Naruto's time to shine, he's been playing the fool for so long, when he wipes the floor with the others, as much as I love everyone, he deserves all the praise in the world. I get to protect Sasuke and see if me meddling in his life changed enough for him to not fall into the curse of hatred. I'm also pumped to see my friends again, watch them battle, and see what the hell is going on with Gaara. Jumping out of my bed, I almost put a hole in the floor of how much force I used, damn, I'm really freaking out.

I put on my ninja attire and decided, since it's only a written test, to make myself look more innocent then usual as a way to hide my actual strength. It doesn't really matter much, whenever people see me they always say I'm too pretty or whatever to be a strong ninja. I did my hair, it gliding down to my lower back in glossy curls. I still cant bring myself to be too girly, so I put on my normal sharp eyeliner and my eyes looked pretty and deadly. I have my perfect mix of a sweet princess and a deadly warrior. Dad gave me a short "make me proud," and I ran to meet up with my teammates. I can't believe it's finally time.

I ran up to the front of the Academy, Naruto and Sasuke were standing super close glaring at one another, lightning passing between them. I began to laugh because it looked like they were going to kiss again. They snapped their heads towards me at neck breaking speeds and Naruto glomped me, whining about the 'teme being such a teme.' After our greetings with one another, wide smirks plastered on our faces, we linked arms and walked up to the second floor. I could feel the genjutsu, so could Sasuke. We locked eyes and had unspoken understanding that is's time to be assholes. Kotestu, in a shitty transformation jutsu punched down Tenten, Izumo doing the same to Lee. I stepped forward with a shit eating grin on my face.

"Wow Izumo and Kotetsu, I didn't know that for you to really feel like grown men, you have to parade around as Genin, beating up on people younger than you. You limp dicks have really fragile egos." Naruto busted out laughing at my statement. Sasuke stood next to me, his giant arrogant asshole smirk on his face. I could hear the girls swooning already.

"And while you're at it, release the lame transformation. We want to go to the third floor." Murmurs of what Sasuke and I said were spread throughout the room. IZumo and Kotetsu turned red in anger.

"Agh you little brats, didn't anyone ever teach you how a lady should talk?" Kotetsu said, aiming a kick at me. I blocked it easily.

"Yeah but does it seem like I care." He growled and walked off, pulling Izumo, who Rock Lee blocked from kicking Sasuke. All eyes were officially on us. Neji and Tenten walked over to where lee was, our teams facing off.

"Hinata-hime, it is wonderful to see a beautiful youthful lotus like yourself in these exams." I smiled brightly at the weirdly adorable, blushing Lee. He's so Kawaii for such a badass fighter. I allowed Lee to glomp me, and returned his hug before pushing him off.

"Lee, I missed you! Oh my Kami you dress so much like Gai now." I said, flinching a bit at the bright and skintight outfit of lee, I had to keep my eyes away from any unwanted areas. I turned to Neji and gave him a hug, him returning it barely. "Niisan, Tenten, I missed you guys. We better make it to the end together."

"Of course, its our destiny to meet Hime, the rest of these Genin are weak fools." I rolled my eyes at him and let Neji and Sasuke have their little stare down. Finally, done with the testosterone battles between them and the moping of Naruto and Lee, I grabbed my team and not so nicely yanked them to the stairwell to head up to the third floor. We were passing an empty sparring classroom when a voice loud enough to rival Naruto called out.

"Hey you with the arrogant look." We all stopped and turned around to see the green beast Rock Lee, a determined look etched across his features. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, keeping his emotionless look on his face. "My name is Rock Lee, top Genin of my year. You said to give your name before asking for another's isn't that correct. Sasuke Uchiha. I would like to fight you, test my skills against someone from the infamous Uchiha clan." Sasuke looked annoyed, but I could see the glint of excitement for a fight against the boy who stopped his kick with his bare hands, and didn't even flinch.

"Hn. So you already know who I am."

"No shit sherlock, you wear your clan symbol boldly across your back." Sasuke sent me a glare before turning his attention back on Lee. Lee gave Sasuke a fierce look and walked into the classroom, we all followed. Lee turned to me and gave me a blinding smile, his teeth actually sparkled. What ever kind of non-chakra genjutsu he uses, I want it. He gave me the dorky thumbs up and I had to smile back at it. He's such a dork.

"Hinata-hime, I did as promised, I kept up my training to be a Taijutsu master, all thanks to your kind words and belief in me. One day I ill measure up and be enough to protect you, but for now my win in this battle is for you." My eyes widened then began to water at the sweetness of his words. I didn't do anything special, I just believed in him because I knew he could be amazing, but for that to have made him get the confidence to continue. I sent him a glassy eyed smile, full of happiness.

"Lee, I already know you are strong, keep up your work. I'm happy that you appreciate the belief I have in you, I will never stop believing in you. Show my arrogant Uchiha what the green beast can do." Sasuke looked to me in annoyance at the thought that Lee could even slightly show him up. Honestly, Lee is amazing and in a league of his own, but Sasuke is so strong, so I don't know how the fight will end. What I missed was the flutter of Sasuke's heart, and the pride he felt when I called him my Uchiha. Sasuke and Lee squared off, before Naruto could run in and interfere, I whispered to him about keeping his skills secret until we have to fight, make it even more of a surprise. He backed down and watched the fight intently, to gather more information on the two opponents. Sasuke shot forward at Lee, attempting to land a blow, but Lee with his superior speed moved out of the way and broke through Sasuke's defense, giving him a hard kick to the cheek. Sasuke stumbled back, shocked at the hit, then he smirked.

Taking Lee fully serious now. They went back to fighting, moving in blurs to the untrained eye. Every attack Sasuke threw, Lee dodged and vice versa. Sasuke was holding up well in the Taijutsu battle, but soon Lee sped up more and his attacks were overwhelming, and Lee finally landed an uppercut sending Sasuke into the aid, sprawled out like a starfish. Lee appeared under Sasuke, his bandages unravelled and flowing with him. When he was about to do the forbidden technique, paper pinwheels shot out of nowhere and pinned Lee to a wall, hanging him by his bandages. It looked similar to the crucifixion, in a less Holy way. Sasuke was falling to the floor, but Naruto caught him. Sasuke looked disgruntled, Naruto looked ready to kick some ass, and Lee was pale and sweating nervously.

"Y-You were watching the whole time?" Lee asked to the giant tortoise that suddenly appeared.

"Yes, that technique was forbidden, I taught it to you for extreme circumstances only." Naruto dropped Sasuke in shock and pointed at the tortoise, his eyes comically wide.

"Hinata-chan that turtle is talking, can turtles be sensei's too?" Sasuke looked over to me and I knew he was wondering the same thing. I began to giggle which turned into full blown laughter.

"Kami no, first it's a tortoise and it's a summoning animal. His sensei is way weirder than that." They gave me weird looks until the tortoise disappeared and in its place, clad in the horrific green outfit, Might Gai, taijutsu master. Lee's eyes basically glowed at the sight of his Sensei, mine were sparking in amusement for seeing the oddness of Gai, and the boys eyes were filled with pure horror at the sight of him.

"Gai-sensei. I am so sorry!" Lee said with large tears falling out of his eyes. I held in my snickers at the sight.

"This guy is an even bigger freak, his brows are eve larger than Lee's, they look alive." Naruto shouted in my ear. Sasuke nodded in agreement, looking butt hurt about losing to such a weird kid. They stopped and stared quietly when Gai punched the shit out of Lee, sending him flying. Then the forgave one another and began crying puddles together.

"Gai-sensei"

"Lee"

"Gai-sensei"

"Lee"

"Gai-sensei"

"Lee" They shouted to one anther, an odd sort of love glowing in their eyes. Then they tightly hugged another, spandex to spandex, crying even more, a genjutsu sunset appearing behind the duo. Sasuke watched appalled at the freak show, I laughed at the odd yet sweet bond between the Sensei and student, and Naruto was crying too since he thought it was a sweet sight. Finally Gai noticed us again, and did his nice guy pose.

"Nice to see you full of youth Hinata. I know you were all shocked by my youthful and handsome face. I am Might Gai! You are Kakashi's students."

"Bushier brows, you know Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked dumbfounded that our too cool for school sensei would even talk to someone like Gai.

"Yous! Kakashi is my eternal rival." Gai then appeared behind us, showcasing his speed. "My record is 50 wins and 49 losses over Kakashi. Face it, I am stronger and faster than him." Sasuke lost his mask of indifference and looked openly shocked at Gai's display of speed, and the fact that our super awesome Sensei is weaker than the weirdo. Naruto's mind was reeling with the information, trying to process how Kakashi would lose to a bushy brows sensei.

"Gai, I'd love to stay and talk about your rivalry, but we all have to leave for the exams." Gai's eyes flickered with understanding and he flashed away, saying his goodbyes and good lucks. Lee followed right after, leaving us alone.

"Teme, you couldn't have beat him. Did you see his hands? The only person we've met who seems to train to that extent is Hinata-chan." Naruto said, as a sort of consolation for Sasuke. Even though he did slightly rub it in earlier about Sasuke's loss. Sasuke finally understood, flashing a glimpse to me. He knows that I train more than anyone, including him and Naruto who train more than most. To meet somebody who does a s much as me shocked Sasuke to the core, also lighting a fire inside of him for all of the strong opponents he gets to face. He grabbed my hand and we walked up the stairs to room 301 where Kakashi was waiting for us.

Kakashi gave us a smile as we handed in our paperwork.

"Maa Maa, I'm glad you all made it, all I have to say is I'm proud to be your sensei. You have proved over and over how talented and hardworking each of you are, I expect you all to make Chunin. Show the elemental nations what Team 7 is made of." With Kakashi's wonderful speech, we all felt more confident, I could feel it overflowing between the 4 of us. I gave Kakashi a hug.

"Thank you for being my sensei, even if you are a lazy ass perv, I wouldn't have made it this far without you." Kakashi patted my head affectionally and sent us off. I was standing in between Naruto and Sasuke, we exchanged glances, all plastered on smirks and I slammed open the doors in the most dramatic fashion possible. My smirk grew wider when all eyes turned to us, when they saw who it was, the rookie brats, almost all of the other Genin glared and began to release their weak KI to scare us. My smirk, along with Naruto's turned into full blown smiles, mine deceptively sweet and Naruto's foxy.

"Oh how cute, the other Genin are trying to scare us, I heard that when scared, weak people try to use KI to make the opponent back off. Naru, Sasuke wanna show them what real Killer Intent feels like?" I felt the air around us become more tense, the usual warmth radiating from my blonde sun changed into the swirling dangerous one. Sasuke and I can release a pretty scary KI thanks to Zabuza, but nobody in this world can match up to Naruto and Kuruma's KI. We all released the KI and directed it at the crowd, many flinching or quivering in fear, I'm pretty sure a few even cried. Stopping the KI, I began to laugh at the shock of the fellow Genin, that is until I could feel my bracelet humming in a mix of pleasure and deadly excitement. I'm guessing he can project his feelings into the sand, and since my chakra has merged, I can feel it too.

I had my lavender eyes roam over the room until I saw the familiar red hair, a blank mask on his face, his eyes ruining the mask of nothingness. They were swirling with murderous excitement directed at Naruto, not surprising because of Kuruma and Shukaku's rivalry. They also had emotions I couldn't quite identify directed towards me. I studied Gaara for a bit, but still was unsure of what he was feeling, so I just gave him a smile, flashed myself by him, patting him on the head in a way that pleased him since his lips quirked up in the slightest, then returning to my teammates. I could feel the stares of Kankuro and Temari, since his sand defense didn't react to me at all. Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances at my actions with the Sand team, but decided to not say anything.

"SASUKE-KUNNN" Two obnoxiously loud and squeaky voices called out. In a movement faster than I've ever seen them move, pink and purple were soon holding on to the arms of Sasuke.

"I've missed those devilishly brooding good looks of yours. I'm sorry we've been apart my love." Ino cooed out, pushing herself against Sasuke trying to put his arm between her small chest.

"It's been too long, I'm sure you've been miserable with the blonde idiot and the failure of a girl on your team. Don't worry, a real woman is here now." Sakura said batting her eyelashes in a failed attempt to be sultry. Damn, I so want to blow them out of the water with my seduction skills, but maybe now's not the time to let my freak flag fly. It wouldn't work on Sasuke anyways, the asexual bastard. Sasuke grumbled in annoyance and shoved the girls off of him harshly. I could feel the anger radiating off of him as the fangirls kept trying to rub their nonexistent bodies against Sasuke, not taking him pushing them off as a sign to quit. WTF they are horny already at the age of 13. They proceeded to have an argument calling each other names and arguing who Sasuke likes better. I began to laugh at the misfortune of Sasuke, I may not like fangirls, but seeing Sasuke annoyed has always pleased me in a sadistic kind of way. Finally the rest of Ino's team made their way over.

"Oh its you guys. Nice show earlier with the Ki, it was actually pretty intimidating." Shikamaru stated blandly, stifling a yawn. He walked over, Choji in tow, and threw an arm around my shoulder, laying his head on mine as a way to sleep standing up. I flashed Choji a smile, giving him a side hug.

"So, the three stooges are here huh?" Naruto yelled, grinning at his supposed awesome nickname for Team 10. Shikamaru opened one eye, annoyance flowing from his lazy ass.

"Hey, you know what you pipsqueak." He said, raising his voice a bit, then slumping back over me in defeat. "Ah forget it, it's a waste of time." Naruto just laughed it off, not being mad at his sort of friend.

"What do you know, looks like the whole gang is back together again!" Kiba's loud, confident voice overpowering the room. He had his signature feral grin on his face, walking up with Shino to stand by Sakura who huffed in annoyance at him.

"Man everyone is here for this troublesome thing, this is going to be a drag." Shikamaru whispered to me, letting out a large sigh. I giggled and poked him in the ribs, sending a shock of Chakra to piss him off a bit. He retaliated with shoving his chin harder onto the top of my head.

"Here we are, all 9 rookies. This is going to be fun, at least for the ones good enough to make the cut, right Hinata?" He asked, a taunting smirk on his face. I wanted to punch it off, but I also couldn't help but smile at him.

"Yeah yeah, whatever dog boy. You haven't been able to beat me yet, what makes you think there will be a difference now." I pushed Shika off and walked up to Kiba, taking Akamaru off his head and cooing at his cuteness. He responded with a happy yip and licked my cheek.

"While you've been putting on doll dresses, we've been training like crazy. And what the hell, you say hi to Akamaru but not me?" I smirked up at him, patting him condescendingly on the arm. He pulled me into a headlock, ruffling up my hair and we laughed, Kiba ignoring Naruto's declaration of kicking Kiba's ass. I greeted Shino, asking him about the newest insect in his collection. We were all chatting animatedly, when an annoying and fake sweet voice called out to us.

"Hey you guys." We all turned to see a guy around 18, with grey hair in a low ponytail and round Harry Potter glasses walking over to us. I stopped talking and my face set in a glare, any of the people watching were shocked at my change. Those who know me know I don't have issues with people, and if I do, I don't let it be evident, so my apparent dislike for Kabuto put them on edge. I must have alerted Gaara too because the bracelet tightened in an almost comforting manner. "You might want to try keeping it down a little. No offense, but you are the 9 rookies right? Fresh out of the academy." He finished as he stood in front of us all. I moved closer to Sasuke, him taking the hint and pushing his shoulder against mine, then grabbing my hand tightly. He knew I was uncomfortable by this dude, and I watched as Kabuto's eyes wandered over us, stopping to stare at my glare, then at Sasuke longer than necessary. Sasuke noticed too, even Naruto picked up the tension between us. "I wouldn't go making a spectacle out of yourselves, even with the Impressive KI you managed to pull off, everyone here doesn't take rookies nicely."

"Thanks _Kabuto_, but you can take that fake concern and shove it up your ass." I growled out. Everyone around me shot their eyes to me, wondering how I knew him. Kabuto on the other hand, I saw his eyes fill with dark interest at my knowing who he was and he tried to hide the smirk that was forming.

"Oh and how do you know who I am Hinata-san, I am nobody special." He asked with the fake kind voice again. I tightened my grip on Sasuke's hand, trying to control myself, but failing. Him and Orochimaru right now are my enemies and want to basically destroy Sasuke, my precious person.

"I know lots of things Kabuto, maybe even more than you and your special cards. Why don't you show the others." Kabuto's eyes flashed with dangerous intent, before becoming more intrigued and watching my figure closely. Damn it, I need to shut up. I don't want or need him to know anything about me, but I can't help but word vomit and say things he didn't need to know I know. He smiled a sweet smile, eyes never leaving mine. It was unnerving and I wanted to look away, but couldn't bring myself to. Kabuto dug in his pocket, pulling out a deck of cards.

"Ah yes, let me show you all my ninja info cards. They are chakra encoded and have everything I've learned about in the last 4 years."

"Kabuto, that's your name right? You seem to know so much, is this not your first time taking the exams?" Sakura asked him.

"Nope it's my 7th. This would be my 4th year taking them." He said sheepishly.

"This really is going to be a drag then." Shika moaned.

"Wow, you must really be an expert then! You can help us and give us inside tips." Sakura stated enthusiastically.

"Sakura, he's not an expert if he's never passed, it means he's an idiotic dipshit or is taking them for his amusement." I said deadpanning at her, my voice still lining with an edge. Kabuto looked even more intrigued by my statement, a threatening look behind his glasses. Fuck fuck fuck fuck, I need to learn to shut up sometimes. I'm worse than Naruto at this point. Kabuto laughed and kneeled down, laying his cards on the floor.

"Yeah well hopefully I pass this time, even if I'm not that strong. Anyways..." Kabuto inserted his chakra into the cards, turning them into a world mad. He talked about the hidden villages and balance of power stuff. Finally he revealed the final trick to his spy cards, information on other people. Sasuke perked up at this.

"These cards have information on over 250 people, for example," he pulled out a card with my face on it fucking creep. "Hinata Hyuuga, 362 D-ranks and 1 A-rank mission. She is the top rookie Genin and not many know that she is a Prodigy akin to the likes of the greatest ninja's of all time." I stiffened, even he shouldn't know about that. How he got that information is beyond me, but that's concerning if his spy skills are that good. He just announced my skills to all of the Genin there, fuck. my. life. Sakura and Ino humphed at me, saying I was more beast than woman and Kiba shouted annoyed at the amount of D-ranks we've completed. Sasuke moved infront of me in protector mode, his eyes narrowing at Kabuto's information.

"Do you have anyone in mind Sasuke-kun." Kabuto asked, smirking slightly.

"Hn. Rock Lee and Gaara Subaku." Everyone learned about the two, and Kabuto tried to intimidate everyone indirectly by saying how all of the Genin were top ninjas like me. I was still in mild shock at Kabuto's knowledge and interest in me, but I was brought out of it by Naruto's yelling. He was standing right in front of all the potential Genin pointing at them, shoulders back, a confident foxy smile on his face.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, rookie extraordinaire, part of the legendary Team 7, and I'm going to kick all of your asses dattebayo!" The rest of the rookies looked pissed at Naruto for drawing more attention from the older, scarier Genin. Sasuke and I, on the other hand, were amused, and believed in what he said. Sasuke had a smirk on his face as he went to stand beside Naruto, I busted out laughing and followed, showing off the 'legendary Team 7' to everyone there. There were a few hungry and intrigued looks sent towards us, some annoyed looks, and some fearful looks. Then, everyone went back to their business, until the sound trio decided to make their appearnace. I watched as they swiftly got out of their seats and went over to Kabuto, Zaku threw a knife at Kabuto, who dodged, and Dosu appeared right in front, aiming a punch straight at Kabuto's face. The rest of the sound made it, standing next to Dosu, ready for battle. Kabuto leaned back, avoiding the attack, but then his glasses cracked and he keeled over, puking his guts out. Kabuto wiped his face off and looked up, a nasty gleam in his eye.

"Oh so it was that kind of attack." He said, not being able to hide the amusement in his voice.

"What the hell was that, I saw him dodge." Naruto whispered between us rookies. Many of them nodded in agreement and confusion.

"There was some trick to the attack, making it land." Shikamaru stated, trying to analyze the situation and the intimidating sound trio, whose blood thirst was obvious.

"Sound waves, they are from sound. That metal gauntlet rekeased them, he didn't have to hit four eyes directly, just get close enough for the sound waves to attack his ears, messing up motor functions." The area around me went dead silent, even the sound trio was staring at me. Looks of awe, anger, and intrigue were directed at me.

"How annoying, this brat figured out my trick by one attack." Dosu stated annoyed, giving me a murderous glare.

"Hmm, impressive indeed." Kabuto said, watching me hungrily like a predator watches its prey. My friends all whispered about how I was able to figure out the attack and deduce it so easily. If only they knew. Finally, Ibiki in all of his scary ass glory poofed into existence. He was even more intimidating that I thought, he might be the most intimidating man I've ever seen in my life. He was tall, so tall he towered over me and everyone else around him. His bandana did nothing to hide the massive scars across his face and with the glare he was sporting, I felt myself cower a bit at the master TI sadist. His eyes were sparking with amusement at the fear he evoked within the Genin when they didn't even know who he was. This guy is the real deal. He made us grab papers to take our seats, I ended up next to Naruto, but since we're teammates, I was moved seats and am now unfortunately sitting next to Kabuto. He gave me a smile when I sat down next to him, I just glared.

"Hinata-san I'm so glad we can sit next to each other and get acquainted. There's so much I _want _to know about you." His eyes were dancing with amusement at the twitch of my brow.

"I don't want to get acquainted with a petty snake servant like yourself." He smiled even brighter, this time I could see the dangerous and menacing glint behind it.

"Oh and what do you mean by that?" He asked sweetly, feigning innocence.

"Who are you a lap dog for right now, Sasori or Orochimaru?" I whispered in his ear, leaning with a smile equally as fake as his. My smile turned into a smirk as his eyes widened and his face turned into a hard glare. By his reaction, and the flicker of his eyes left and right, he looked nervous that someone was listening in. That means he's under Sasori right now and Orochimaru doesn't know. That's also why he tries to kill Sasuke later on, Sasori want's to keep Orochimaru form gaining the Sharingan, and would have killed Sasuke to do so. Unexpected, Kabuto sent his chakra into my leg, severing the tendons like an asshole, I bit my lip to keep from screaming. I'm such an idiot, why the hell can't I keep my mouth shut. Somebody should mute me, I really did it this time, I could tell by the fierce look Kabuto had, he was going to do something bad. He leaned over to me a coy smile on his face, putting on the show that he was flirting. Brushing my hair behind my ear, he whispered to me, a deadly tone that made me shiver.

"Stay out of things that you don't belong in, you'll get your pretty self killed." He placed his hand back on my thigh and healed my leg as we started taking the test, leaving me with a warning that he wont be so kind next time. I was slightly shocked that he even thought to heal me, I guess _maybe _he isn't as much of a dick, or he just enjoys toying with people. Either way, I screwed myself by getting his attention earlier than I wanted. The test in itself wasn't that difficult, the questions were analysis questions with math formulas, something I'm good at, but because I know actually answering the questions doesn't matter, I decided to write Ibiki a riddle for each of the questions, if he decided to solve the riddles, each answer would be a letter. Then putting the letters in the correct order, it would spell out "I'm so bored." After finishing my master piece of riddles, which Kabuto gave me strange looks for not answering the questions, and as he finished healing me up, I decided to take a little nap.

I woke up when Anko came flying through the window. I tired and failed to hide the grin on my face for finally getting to meet the one and only Anko, my favorite (alive) female Jounin in the leaf village. Anko is like if Zabuza, Orochimaru, and Naruto had a love child. She's just amazing, and she can use snakes, and she takes no shit from anyone, and she can scare the living hell out of anyone, and she can use snakes, and she's just an amazing person. I was so excited about finally seeing Anko, I missed the whole speech, which somehow Sauske knew, so when it was over, he came and told me what I missed. It's kind of freaky how well he knows me sometimes. I was so excited about passing the exams, even Kabuto's previous scare wasn't on my mind. As a team, we left the room where Kakashi and Zabuza were waiting for us.

They took us out to get ramen and we chatted throughout the dinner, Zabuza pissing off Sasuke, Naruto talking about himself and ramen, and I talked with Kakashi about the next stage of the exam, gathering as much information as he would give me about the forest of death, which was basically nothing. I could feel the smugness radiating off of Kakashi at his shitty answers he was giving me. He was getting more and more amused as I grew more and more annoyed with him. If he wasn't so hot, I would have punched his lights out by now. Sasuke and I were both ready to flip, annoyed at our tormentors, only we can annoy eachother. We shared an unspoken agreement to team up and destroy the sensei's, but they figured out out plans and before we could attack, Zabuza subdued me, Kakashi doing the same to Sasuke. Naruto watched all of this, laughing his head off, especially at Sasuke's disgruntled look. Finally, we were released and made stops at each of our homes, our sensei's aiding us in packing for tomorrow.

_(3d POV) Ibiki gathering up the exams_

Ibiki was gathering the exams, checking over each one to see how the passing Genin fared. He stopped at one and let out a chuckle, he was amazed that he passed a Genin who didn't answer one of the questions. He continued looking through the tests, impressed with those who managed to cheat and answer them all. Ibiki came across another peculiar test, he read through the answers provided and realized each answer was a riddle seemingly to not pertain to the test. Wanting to know what the riddle was for, the TI sadist sat down and went through the riddles, each one becoming more difficult, just like the test. He was thoroughly impressed with the mid of the Genin who designed the riddles. He finally solved them all and arranged the letters, following basic leaf coding and was highly amused that the riddle spelled out "I'm so bored." He looked at the name and was shocked to see the name Hinata Hyuuga. He was impressed to see a such an intelligent Genin, that isn't a Nara, let alone a Hyuuga without a stick up her ass. Hinata caught his attention, and Ibiki soon left to discuss with the Hokage, needing to know more about the Hyuuga girl who was able to outsmart his test.

* * *

I was walking to training ground 44, the forest of death, and along my journey I saw a mop of blonde hair. I ran up and jumped on Naruto's back. He stumbled but kept his balance, his hands finding their way to grasp my thighs to keep me on his back. He sent me a fake glare that turned into a bright smile when I started giggling.

"Onward my steed, march us to our death." I said, pointing my hand in a random direction. Naruto neighed like a horse and took off, both of us laughing loudly on our way to the second part of the exams. The Genin that passed yesterday, all 70 something of them, were gathered around Anko, who was sucking on a dango stick while picking at her nails with a kunai. She looked up at Naru and I, a smirk on her features making her look even more badass, then she looked back down, uninterested in our arrival. Sasuke made his way over to us, eyeing Naruto with distaste, then proceeded to pull me off his back, standing closely to my side.

"Hey what the hell teme, Hina-chan and I were having fun!" Naruto shot Sasuke a glare, sparks flying between them.

"Hn." Before they could get into another argument, Anko yelled out to get our attention. She handed out papers to sign making her not liable for our death. Her eagerness of it seeming like a lot of us were going to die shook up some of the ninja I didn't recognize. They were shaking in fear, Anko and I both smirked at them. She met my eye, and I winked, making her laugh and wink back. I swore I almost died in that moment, she is the coolest. Sasuke went off on his own, he saw Ino and Sakura then scurried off to hide. Naruto was running away from Konohamaru and his squad, looking like the dorky idiot he is. Anko made her way over to me, smirking devilishly.

"So brat, you think you're ready to face all the beasts the forest of death has to offer? A place like this eats up and spits out little girls like you."

"The forest of death can kiss my ass, if I can handle facing ninjas like Itachi and Zabuza, I can handle a measly forest. There's no way in hell I'm going to die a death as lame as one from a forest or from another Genin. When I die it's going to be with a bang." Anko studied me intensely for a second, then let out a booming laugh and gave me an almost sinister smile.

"So you're the Hyuuga brat that shit on Ibiki's test. I don't say this often, but I like you kid. You got guts, lets see if you have the skills to back it up." My smile was so wide at this point, I thought my face was going to split. Anko looked thoroughly amused by my obvious love of her. I watched her closely and hidden behind her sadism and amusement, I could see the brokenness that she harbored from Orochimaru, and how that made the village distrust her. Then a glimmer of hope was there, the same one I saw in Haku and Naruto, hope that I would truly accept her.

"FUCK YEAH! The Anko Mitarashi likes me!" I said fist pumping. "This means you can be my new mentor and teach me all kinds of cool things. I look up to you so much. You were shunned for how you trained under Orochimaru, yet you overcame it and became one of the most valued ninja in the village. You don't fit the stereotypical woman like everyone wants us to be, I am like that too. Plus you can summon snakes which is so fucking awesome." I noticed how she flinched at the name, and the unadulterated rage that burned in her expression. She switched to a prideful smirk when I boasted about how awesome she is. I mean, she's similar to Naruto in the way that everyone hated her for what was out of her control, and instead of letting it get to her and turning evil like they thought, she became an invaluable aspect to TI and the leaf village. She is outspoken and does what she wants, since I no longer have Lady Seiko or any other female role model/teacher, I want her to be my next one.

"I am that awesome aren't I. Well brat, if you survive this next stage and manage to impress me, I might take you under my wing and give you that awesome female guidance your missing. I mean, like you said, I am the best at what I do." As much as I didn't want to, I couldn't help but hug her. She tensed up and quickly shoved me off, blushing in embarrassment which I thought was funny.

"Hell yeah, just watch I'm going to crush this stage of the Chunin exams, and you're going to beg me to be your apprentice." Anko smirked devilishly and sauntered away, throwing her head back to call to me, in a fond yet snarky tone.

"Keep talking brat." Basically glowing with happiness, I made my way over to my teammates, watching in interest as Sasuke finished his interview, which somehow had Naruto fuming in rage. They exchanged lightning filled glares yet again, Sasuke had a triumphant smirk and Naruto was glowering. Moegi noticed me, and with an adorable grin, she ran over to me, her boys following hurriedly after her.

"Hinata-nee! Can I please interview you? I want to know more about the girl I strive to be like." I patted her head in affection.

"Hai, ask away my spiderlings." We all took a seat, and their eyes were staring intensely into my form. If anyone else stared at me like this, I'd probably try to hide. I also noticed how Naruto and Sasuke broke from their glare fest and inched closer to hear the interview, both of their eyes on us, taking in every detail. Udon was staring at me dazedly with a blush on his face and hearts in his eyes.

"So tell us about Team 7."Moegi asked, taking control of the interview. Konohamaru had the notepad to write down what I say.

"Team 7 is pretty much awesome. We have Naruto Uzumaki, who you guys know all about. Naruto is an idiot for sure, but he has one of the kindest hearts I've ever encountered. He's a ray of sunshine in the darkest of days, and one of my best friends. The thing is, everyone sees him as a deadlast, but throughout the whole academy, he was faking it. He's one of the strongest Genin right now and I feel sorry for anyone who has to go up against him. He's unpredictable and is going to be the greatest Hokage someday." The three kids of the Kono Squad were filled with even greater admiration for their boss, and I could feel the sunshine happiness radiating off of Naruto from here. Sasuke had a depression cloud, which I ignored, he broods for no reason sometimes. They were watching me expentantly, so I continued. "Next we have Sasuke Uchiha. Just by his clan, you know he is strong. He was the top male student in our year for a reason. Everyone sees Sasuke as this cold and stoic shinobi, but he has a heart of gold and is super funny in his own way. I've known Sasuke, for forever and we are basically family, I'd trust him with my life with no question. Also, his nickname is duckbutt and he will forever be duckbutt to me. Sasuke and Naruto fight more than they get along, but together they are a perfect team, like Yin and Yang. My two halves of my team. We also have our Sensei, Kakashi Hatake. Kakashi-sensei is one of the coolest people in the world, but he also is a huge asshole because he is never on time to ANYTHING. Not only is he famous and super badass, he is a great sensei and has taught us so much even if his training is draining. No matter how tense of a situation, Kakashi-sensei is there to protect us. He is super quirky and has so much swagger. He's the guiding hand of our team, he keeps us on track and has made us an unstoppable team. The final member of Team 7 is new, a rogue ninja Zabuza Momochi. Zabuza is one of the most entertaining people ever, and he's my Senpai. Zabuza is sadistic and merciless, but his heart is in the right place. He came with me to atone for his sins and protects me, he also trains us, and oh my gosh is it horrible yet effective. He's one of the 7 ninja swordsman of the mist meaning he is a master with a sword, and his is big and awesome. Zabuza increases our teams scare factor tenfold. Overall Team 7 is awesome and I love being in it." My teammates were smiling, Sasuke wearing a smirk, and I knew that this information would somehow get to the other members somehow. If given the opportunity, I'd gush all about my whole team endlessly, but alas, there is a time limit.

"You forgot to tell us about yourself Hinata-nee, you're a member of Team 7 too, we want to know all about you." I laughed and blushed sheepishly at forgetting to talk about myself. I put on a smirk and began to tell them all about myself, to the best of my ability.

"Oh yeah, well lets see. I guess I'd say I'm like the glue of my Team, strong and sturdy. My dream is to be the strongest I can be to save as many people as I can good or bad. I think everyone deserves a chance at a better life. To do that I have to kick ass and take names, which I have been doing my whole life. Since I was 1, I've been training every day to get stronger and smarter so I can save everyone and bring peace alongside my friends and family. I have support to help me on my journey, my team; my friends: Lady Seiko, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Kiba, Lee, Gaara, and Tenten; my family: Shisui, Neji, Hanabi, and My dad; and those I've lost: the Uchiha clan, Itachi, Haku, and my mother. All of these people have aided me in becoming a kick ass Kunoichi and will keep aiding me in the future." I finished and there was a crowd gathered around us, all of the Genin were listening Intently. My friends were staring at me in awe and love, Gaara looked shocked yet pleased that I mentioned him as a friend, and Kabuto was watching me with that strange interest like yesterday. It was super awkward with all the gazes on me so Anko called everyone's attention to explain the rules.

"This test consists of an anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls!" Anko said, pulling out 2 scrolls, one with the kanji for heaven and one for earth. "You'll be fighting to get both, a heaven and an earth scroll. All together there are 26 teams, half will be going for the heaven, and half the earth. That means more than half of you will fail."

"Ok, so how do we pass the test?" Sasuke asked, well more like demanded. Anko smirked causing many of the Genin to shiver and look worried. Anko finished explaining the rules and point of the exam, I could feel the blood thirst rise among us, people were itching to kill, and a lot of it was directed at us rookies.

"Oh, and one more thing, this test has a time limit. You must finish it within 5 days." Anko stayed silent, letting that digest in our minds for a minute.

"5 Days?" Ino and Sakura screamed out.

"What are we supposed to do about food?" Choji asked our worriedly, his eyes wide. I smirked, I packed a lot of ration bars to eat and survive on. Anko and Kabuto tag teamed, telling how the forest has lots of food to find, but also lots of deadly alternatives. Yep, make everyone more fearful. Shikamaru raised his hand, eyes lidded and huffing in annoyance.

"Soo...um lets say we're halfway through the exam. Can we quit?" He drawled out. Everyone who didn't know Shika gave him incredulous looks. I had to turn my head away to hide my laughs of amusement at his laziness. Only he would think that, I can see him just sitting down, right before being attacked and giving up, going to sleep.

"In the middle of a battle can you just say 'sorry I quit?' No, you will end up dead." Anko said, annoyed at the absolute laziness of Shika.

"Great... this is going to be such a drag." I walked over to Shika and wrapped my arm around his waist, smirking up at him.

"Stop being such a lazy ass, you know you're smart and can finish this exam easily." Shikamaru grunted and shut his eyes, placing his head on top of mine and shutting his to relax before going into the forest.

"Mmm, same to you, just... just don't die out there troublesome woman."

"Eeh, you know nobody here can kill me." I could feel the eye roll coming from him, he buried his face in my hair and inhaled, then grunted before he let go and walked away. I went to each of my friends, wishing them luck. I made it to Gaara, and we had an awkward stare down. To end it, I hugged him, getting no hug in return, just a happy vibration from his sand bracelet. I wished him luck and made my way back to my team, not noticing the multiple pairs of eyes following me, and Gaara's mutter of 'mine' under his breath as I left him. I finally returned to my team, Naruto was animatedly telling Sasuke about all the he's going to kick. Sasuke replying with short answers or taunts, they seemed content and almost happy to converse with one another. We sat on the ground, taking strategies while everyone got their scrolls. I decided to give Naruto the scroll, nobody would expect the dead last to have it, its perfect. And this time, Sasuke cant hand it over to Snake man. We were so engrossed in the conversation, I didn't notice the presence near us, until the person's shadow covered me, blocking out the sun. I looked behind me, and almost jumped away, there was the Grass Nin aka Orochimaru. He eyed each of us, his eyes basically glittering when they landed on Sasuke. I saw his eyes rake over y form, interest sparked in them. I don't doubt Kabuto said something to him about me.

"Ahh, so you guys are some of the rookies. You must be quite impressive to have made it this far." My body was tense, and I had to prevent myself from calling him out, I already fucked up with Kabuto, I can't mess up my plans again.

"What's it to you?" Sasuke demanded harshly, his eyes narrow and body poised to attack.

"Yeah creepy lady, leave us alone." Naruto yelled out. They both didn't like the aura of Orochimaru. Orochimaru laughed a creepy laugh, voice still distorted to be like a woman's.

"So testy. My apologies, I'll be on my way." He said, he licked his lips, looking over us once more, then slithered away. Man if he wasn't so creepy and wearing someone else's skin, I'd be pretty excited to meet a Sanin. He's even more snake like in person, he moves in a deadly grace like a snake, I can tell and I haven't even seen him fight yet. I ripped ,y eyes away from him, and we went back to strategizing. Finally, everyone received their scrolls and we were called to each of our gates. We stood, exchanging glances, determination etched onto each of our features. 5..4..3..2..The gate was opened and we rushed inside. We were moving quickly to find the river, and I had my Byakugan on, scouting for potential threats as well as good resting spots. After 2 hours, we finally came to a stop, there was a cave and the river was only a quarter mile away from us. Sasuke went out to set some traps and Naruto and I were alone. I was feeling a bit exhausted from using my Byakugan consistently for so long, and I was running through my plans in my head over and over. Naruto noticed the strain on my face and he scooped me up in his arms. I was so focused on what to do with Orochimaru, I barely noticed Naruto holding me in his lap as he set up the fire. Sasuke came back and noticed my far away look, but said nothing. I fell asleep to Naruto's warmth, and got a good hour nap before I woke up. I noticed Sasuke's stare and went to sit by him, allowing Naruto the next nap. Sasuke and I were playfully bantering as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

After a few hours, the sun was getting ready to set, and one of the traps went off. We were all up and alert, weapons drawn. I was molding my chakra, moving it around readying it for ninjutsu use and to be used if I have to use olympic style with the enhanced strength. A team came from the Northeast, they were a team of 16 year old boys from Takigakure. Each of them had dark smirks on their faces. The boy on the left hand long green hair and was wielding a Chokuto (A/N this is a type of sword. Same kind Sasuke uses). The boy in the middle, he seemed to be the leader, hand short spiky dark grey hair, he had a Kunai, but I he looked like the jutsu user of the bunch. The boy on the right had purple hair and was carrying senbon, he was further back than the others meaning he's probably their medical ninja of the crew. It's rare to have med ninja in the field, but I could tell he was prepared to fight.

"Look who we have here, the three little rookie Genin from the Leaf. They must be getting so desperate to appear strong, they allow babies to try to become chunin." The middle boy scoffed.

"It really sounds more like you're jealous that we're in the Chunin exams as rookies when you weren't good enough until you were 16." I said back, putting on my shit-eating grin and laughing in their face. The green haired boy's face scrunched up into rage, he's the hot headed one. I signaled for Sasuke to take him on, weapon user versus weapon user; plus, Sasuke's cool facade always pisses off the hotheads, making them even more of a wild and blind fighter. I signaled for Naruto to take on the Medical Ninja, Naruto's brute strength and overpowering chakra, his fast healing from any specific medical attack, and especially his clones and wind use will make it easier to take out the medical ninja who has a small amount of chakra and is a fighter based off of dodging and not strength. Tsunade is the only exception to this style of medical ninja fighting, so Naruto will be the perfect contrast to overwhelm him. I decided to take the grey haired boy, he seems to be a jutsu user and looks to be more of a mid range fighter. I have the best handle on justu's between our teammates, and with combining my nin and tai jutsu, I will be able to take this guy down. I can fight him mid-range with my water ninjutsus, and use that to push him into close combat, which I can decimate him with.

"You bitch, I'll..." Sasuke and Naruto sent ferocious glares to the green haired boy.

"Little princess has a big bark, lets see if she has any bite." The grey haired boy said, calming down his hot headed teammate, cutting him off before he could continue to freak at me. Sasuke smirked as his opponent drew his sword, taunting him just by looking at him.

The boy's rage surfaced again and they shot at each other, kunai and sword meeting in a clang, sending off sparks from the collision of metals. The boy had strength, and his pressure with the sword was slowly overpowering Sasuke, but quick on his feet, Sasuke gripped the boys wrist, twisting it and throwing him over his shoulder effectively disorienting the boy so that Sasuke would not be overpowered. The green haired boy was fast, but Sasuke was faster. Greenie sent a flurry of swipes and jabs towards Sasuke, his skills with his sword were blatantly apparent. He moved with a deadly grace and if Sasuke was any slower and less skilled, he would have lost. The training with Zabuza and Kakashi kicked in and Sasuke easily dodged each swipe, making the green haired boy even more pissed off. Losing his temper, the boy added in some more moves, and managed to nick Sasuke in the shoulder. Sasuke scoffed in annoyance and activated his Sharingan. Sasuke jumped in the air, made the hand signs and sent a massive fireball at the swordsman. While the boy was occupied with dodging and not getting fried, Sasuke threw a barrage of Kunai around the boy. The boy laughed and taunted Sasuke for having shitty aim. Sasuke merely smirked, landing on a tree branch. Looking closer, there was a glint of ninja wires surrounding the boy and each of the wires led back to Sasuke. Sasuke made a fist and pulled back causing all the wire's to wrap tightly around the green boy, easily trapping him in a hold he would not be able to get out of. The boy shouted a string of curses at the Uchiha as Sasuke teasingly stalked his way forward. The onyx eyed boy chopped the green haired boy in the neck, knocking him out. The boy slumped over and Sasuke searched him for the scroll, finding nothing.

Naruto was having a standoff with the med ninja. The boy smirked at Naruto, dismissing his skills immediately like so many others. That angered the knucklehead and Naruto got ready to fight. He sent a wave of chakra through his hands, activating his brass knuckles. The med ninja noticed this and put a bit more distance between himself and Naruto. Grabbing 4 senbon in each hand, the boy threw them quick and precise at numbing spots. Naruto noticed this and managed to move enough so that the senbon impaled him, but nowhere important. Being hit already pissed off Naruto even more. He took a calming breath like he was taught and assessed the situation. He noticed the distance the med ninja but between them, Naruto figured out that meant he was not a strong fighter, and by his weapons, the same as Haku used, he figured the boy must be fast, but he can tell he's no where near Haku's level. The boy sent another round of senbon at Naruto, but this time Naruto remembered the training that was beat into him: _'duck, dive, dodge' _ran through his head, don't get hit, never get hit.

Naruto moved in his wild way, dodging the senbon, punching the last one with his iron clad hand, sending it clattering to the floor. Right when the boy grabbed another handful of senbon, he prepared a senbon Shadow Clone jutsu to sent a mass amount at Naruto. Noticing this, Naruto made a ton of Shadow clones, using each of them to take the hits of the senbon instead of him. Naruto figured out that if he cant fully dodge something, using a shadow clone to take the hit is the best way to survive. The med ninja froze in shock at the mass amount of Shadow Clones, wondering how much chakra Naruto must have to not even be phased by it. The med ninja pulled out more senbon, these ones laced in poison, the purple liquid was dripping off of them. He threw a barrage yet again at Naruto, leaving him without enough time to make enough Shadow clones. Naruto pushed himself into the air, twirling to avoid some of the senbon, and send a giant Great Breakthrough jutsu from his palms, rendering all of the senbon useless and sending the med ninja flying back into a tree, covering him in cuts and knocking him out. Naruto jumped in joy, curling his hand into a fist, proud of his first real success in the exams. His bright smile was making the area basically glow, and he all but skipped over to his defeated victim and checked his pockets, not finding the needed scrolls. He did find food scrolls, and decided to take those for future help in the exams.

Sasuke and Naruto rushed into battle, I was having a stare down with the dark grey haired boy.

"Little Princess, if you tell me who has the scroll, I wont hurt you...much. This place is not meant for cuties like you, you should be in the kitchen not trying to be a ninja. I'll even be nice enough to make you mine after this and you can cook for me all I want. I like a feisty girl." He said with a smirk, licking his lips lecherously.

"Damn, I finally got Kiba to stop being a sexist bastard, now I have to beat it into you too? Call me princess one more time and I'll show you why I'm to be feared, asshole." The boy smirked, letting out a laugh with a mix of annoyance and lust.

"I can't wait to break you in... _princess._" I giggled at him, turning it into a full blow laugh. I narrowed my eyes and activated my Byakugan, watching as he revved up his chakra. His chakra was gritty and moved steadily. He started making hand signs and the flow of his chakra was being moved around, his chakra moved towards his arms and when it reached there, it was being molded into the likeness of rock and mud. He's an earth user. The best counter for that is lightning, so with my limited arsenal, I'm going to have to improvise and add lightning into my normal water jutsu's. Just like wind and fire amplify each other, lightning and water do. Water is a conductor so when a hit of lightning is added, the water becomes electrified. He finished his unfamiliar hand signs, and called out Bashōsen: Coil of Earth. Why people call out their jutsu's I'll never know, only some don't and they are the smart ones. It's honestly such a handicap and gives so many opportunities for counter. I can't believe more ninja haven't noticed this. 4 giant, sharp stone slabs emerged from the ground and came barreling towards me.

I dodged one, and jumped to avoid the other three. Grey boy made one more handsign and spikes came shooting out from the Earth coils. I pushed chakra throughout my body and spun emitting a mass amount of chakra from myself, creating an impenetrable dome of chakra. The spikes hit the dome and broke right as I finished my 8 Trigrams Heavenly spin. The boy watched in shock and fury as his attacks did nothing to me. I merely smiled at his angry state. He prepared another justu and I prepared one of my own. I did the hand signs: ox, tiger, ox, tiger creating the Water Dragon Bullets. As each was formed, right before they attacked, I infused the lightning from my palms into the bullets, electrifying them. They shot towards the boy, he blocked one with his Mud Wall justu, but since they were lightning based, the other's broke through. They lost some of their size from the water being absorbed by the mud, but they made contact with the boy, frying him dizzy. While he was trying to gather his wits, I body flickered up to him and gave him a swift punch to the jaw, knocking him out and leaving a nasty bruise to form. I checked in his pouch and sure enough he had a scroll, sadly it was a heaven scroll, same as ours.

Naruto and Sasuke dragged their KO'd opponents to me, and using some of Sasuke's ninja wire, he tied them all to a tree. Naruto and Sasuke both were basically glowing with pride of our wins. Sasuke had on a small smile and I jumped on his back, wrapping my arm's around his neck like a Koala. I pressed my cheek to his, smiling brightly.

"Guys we kicked ASS oh my Kami we were awesome!" Sasuke removed me form his back, hiding his face slightly so I couldn't see his blush. Still amped up with Adrenaline from our fight, I knew I'd get the hype I need from Naruto. I ran and jumped on his front, wrapping my legs around his waist. He held me up and we fist bumped. I was so proud of Naruto, I got to see glimpses of his fight and he was amazing, it was nice to see him fight somebody other than our teammates for once and it really showed on how skilled he's become. I kissed his cheek and Naruto's grin widened. Naruto carried me back to our fire and I sat in his lap, eating my food as he told me in detail all about his fight. Sasuke got up, going to fill up all of our water bottles. Naruto and I continued out conversation.

"Naru, why do you like Ichiraku's so much. I mean, the ramen is good, but you treat it like a godsend." Naruto's cheerful demeanor was changed into thoughtful. His eyes glazed over like he was remembering something. He was wearing a soft smile, but it was still sad.

"Before I met you, I had nobody. Everyone hated me so it was hard for me to find food, it was always too expensive or nobody would give it to me hoping I'd starve. One night after I was kicked out of the orphanage, it was pouring rain and I was so cold. I was walking in the street, trying to find some place to let me in before I died from the cold. All of the stores laughed at my misery and shut me out, until I found Old Man Ichiraku's. The place was warm and smelled so good, so I walked inside, huddling in the corner. Old Man Ichiraku walked out to greet me, and I thought for sure he was going to kick me out and beat me like everyone else, but instead he smiled at me and let me sit down. He made me a miso ramen and was so kind to me. It's one of the only good memories I have as a kid so I think I associate the food with the memory. The place is a godsend to me, without it I'd be gone." I was in tears by the end of the story. I'd always wondered why he loved ramen so much, but now I see why he does. I turned around and hugged Naruto tightly, doing my best not to cry at how horrible his life was. He rubbed my back. "Don't be sad Hina-chan. I'm not sad about it anymore, because I have you and Kakashi-sensei, and even teme." He said, his cheerful aura was back and it was comforting. I laughed a bit, as he wiped away my tears. Naruto and I talked for a bit longer when he brought the topic of Sakura up.

"I figured out something." Naruto muttered, his blue eyes sharp and pensive.  
"You can think on your own?" I teased. He smiled and punched my shoulder, calling me Teme 2.0.

"I know why I liked Sakura." My eyebrow raised, I definitely noticed the past tense liked, not like. Is he finally over the fake pinkette.

"Liked?" We were both facing the fire, his head on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I liked her because she was different, she was bullied like I was, but figured her way around it. I liked that and because I wanted to be like that, I thought she was the love of my life."

"What changed? You swooned over her all the time."

"When she first stopped being your friend, I noticed she wasn't the nice girl anymore, but I ignored it. Same as how I ignored that I didn't have a chance with Teme being her love. When you asked me why, I though about it a lot. I realized, I don't love her anymore, she's just a mean girl and there is someone better for me. I' starting to think my heart belongs to someone else." My eyes widened, who the hell is he talking about. Somebody is taking his heart, whoever it is better not break it. I turned my head around to look Naruto in his vivid blue eyes.

_(Sasuke POV)_

I finished gathering water, and was making my way back to our camp for the night. I didn't like how Hinata kissed Naruto, or how he looked at her. She's mine and she should only be kissing me, even if it's on the cheek. I was fuming in jealousy at the blonde dobe. I made it back to the camp after checking all of our traps. My teeth clenched and my Sharingan activated at the sight. MY Hinata was sitting on the dobe's lap, looking up at him. He was looking at her, a slight blush on his face as they spoke in hushed tones. I know she isn't in love with him, and I thought the dobe was in love with Sakura, but this looked too romantic, and by his blush, he must like my Hinata.

"Who?" Hinata asked, furrowing her brows. She looked so beautiful with the fire illumaniting her face. Even with dirt and stray hairs, she's always beautiful. More so than any other girl I've ever seen. I was far enough away, they didn't notice me yet, and I could read their lips with the Sharingan. Naruto grinned at her, she laughed in return. My blood was boiling, but I had to stay to figure out what they are talking about.

"She is the prettiest girl I've ever seen, she's really strong, sometimes scary, really loud, boyish, and cusses too much. She isn't the ideal girl, but she's mine. She believes in me and always had." My glare was so strong, I'm surprised Naruto hasn't combusted yet.

"She sounds cool." Hinata replied, still oblivious that he was talking about her. She was smiling in pure joy that Naruto liked somebody. He tucked her stray hair behind her ear and leaned down to kiss her, but before he could, I revealed myself. I walked straight up to them, Naruto removed Hinata from him and stood up. We had a glaring match, more tense than usual. This was not one of friends but of rivals. I smirked a bit as a thought came to my head. While their attention was on my face, I sliced myself in the leg with a Kunai. I looked away from the dobe and turned to my lavender eyes beauty.

"Freak, I just noticed that guy we fought earlier cut my thigh. You have the bandages, wrap it." She sighed and shook her head at us.

"Hn, duckbutt." She said, mocking me. I smirked and sat down, ignoring the glares from the dobe. For the next few minutes, Hinata cleaned out my cut and wrapped it. Her fingers caressing me gently, well as gentle as she can be, contrasting to her violent words calling me an idiot for noticing so late. Each touch sent jolt's through my body, I had to control myself from kissing her. I love her so much, but I still don't have the guts to tell her. I'm a failure of an Uchiha. This would be so much easier if she was an actual fangirl. I settled for watching her work, loving her touching me. It should be me, not Naruto she touches.

* * *

We woke up, ate some ration bars, and packed up all of our stuff, leaving the traps just to help take out other teams. Instead of a code to make sure it's us. We each have to reveal a secret only we would know. Naruto's code is 9 Tails, Sasuke's is Root, and mine is Peter Parker. We were moving in our formation, Sasuke in front, me taking up the rear. Sasuke stopped to take a drink of water and thats when a massive gust of wind came knocking all of us out of whack. The wind was sharp like needles and left cuts in all of us, then blew each of us apart. I felt my back hit a tree, knocking me completely through it, before hitting one more. I slid to the ground groaning in pain.

I blinked away the pain and sat up. I could feel something wet and cool dripping down my side; it took me a minute to figure out it was my blood rolling down my back, cooling my hot skin. I grit my teeth and twisted to look at the damage done. Each movement burned like the fiery pits of hell, but I was lucky. There was a gash across my back, but it was not fatal or debilitating in any way, it just hurt from all of the splinters that were stuck in it. I took the alcohol in my pouch and poured it on my back and didn't bother to wrap it, I wouldn't be able to do it well anyways. I took a drink of water, gaged where I was and got ready to go. I was hopping through the forest for 2 minutes or less when I found Sasuke.I activated my Byakugan, and I knew it was him by the steady, familiar, and alluring flow of his chakra. I know why Karin finds his chakra sexy. Sasuke got in a defensive position and growled at me.

"Code." I put my hands up in a defenseless way to assure him I'm no threat.

"Peter Parker. Geez I'm hurt you thought I was an imposter duckbutt." Sasuke sighed in relief, then I was engulfed in a hug. His body was tense and he held onto me tightly before letting go, standing in front of me defensively as the bushed rustled. Out popped Naruto. With my active Byakugan, I knew it wasn't Naruto. This person's chakra was large and dominating. It slithered through his body in a very in control yet dark way. I grabbed out a kunai in defense and Sasuke followed suit.

"Whats the code dobe."

"Peter Parker." I trembled slightly, knowing who we were up against, but when Sasuke threw the kunai and Orochimaru dodged, I steeled myself, prepared to fight as hard as possible to protect my teammates.

"Oh so you figured me out already. How preceptive of you, how'd you know I wasn't your teammate." The 'Naruto' shifted forms into that of the grass ninja. That being said, the pressure he was exerting was akin to that of death. It was traumatizing, terrifying, I felt like my insides were being burned by the amount of fear his chakra could produce just by letting it out. It was like darkness enveloped my senses, each breath burned, it was so hot it felt cold. Sasuke stood straight beside me, not worried yet, he wasn't a sensor the same way I am but he was a bit more tense. He could tell something was off.

"You can transform your physical body all you want, you can't change your chakra though, and you sure as hell aren't Naruto."

"Hn. So you finally revealed yourself Grass Ninja." Sasuke stated coldly, his body poised to attack. He narrowed his eyes as the grass ninja stood confidently, licking 'her' lips, smirking at us. 'She' reached in her pouch and pulled out an earth scroll. Sasuke's eyes widened and he got ready to take the scroll. He was baited so easily into disclosing what scroll we needed.

"Ahh so you do need this scroll. Let us fight for it. I want to see what you rookies can do." Orochimaru then wrapped his long ass tongue around his scroll and swallowed it whole, if he was into guys, they'd be very happy.

"Wholly shit, you must have a lot of fun in bed with a tongue that long and no gag reflex." Sasuke glared at me for my inappropriate comment, then shot at Orochimaru, but was effortless thrown aside. I flashed to steady Sasuke, and Orochimaru appeared right in front of us. He released a massive amount of blood lust, triggering a genjutsu type hallucination. In the hallucination, I visualized myself being struck in the forehead, dying instantly. It was scary and seemed so real, my body hurt and fell to the ground, it was death, there was so much pressure I was drowning in it. I realized I was still processing my thoughts, and was somehow watching myself. I snapped out of it, relatively. I had to be strong, I'm not going to succumb to this, I've died before I can do it again, it's nothing big just death. Come on, dammit, I need to get my ass up. I got off of my knees and stood up, albeit shakily. "Oh so you are still able to move. Do you not fear your own death?" He asked, I peaked his interest. Saskue was still on the ground breathing heavily, caught in his vision.

Time to enact my plan. It's a shitty plan on all fronts, but it should hopefully work to lessen the overall damage we will take from Orochimaru. My plan is called the Triple T plan: Talk, Tempt, and Taunt. I already revealed too much to Kabuto too early, but now it can be in my favor. He probably already told Orochimaru, so if I play my cards right, I can talk to Orochimaru enough to keep his attention off of Sasuke, hopefully Saving Sasuke from the pain of the curse mark, or at least to help Naruto not get sealed. It's pretty shitty, but if I'm going to talk, might as well use it and talk too much, gaining all of the attention to protect my team. I can fight Orochimaru, maybe not as well as Itachi did, but I think I can handle my own against him if I go all out, so I need to keep him distracted to be able to fight him better. I smirked at Orochimaru.

"Why fear something I've already been through, honestly just like fuck that. I mean if you planned on taking us out easily with some measly hallucination of death, you really aren't the man I thought you were. I thought the legendary snake Sanin Orochimaru would have something better up his sleeves. I guess I'm wrong, maybe getting your ass kicked by Itachi when he was only 13 hurt your pride. I mean, thats the only reason you had to come after his little brother right, you couldn't take him on." God, I was so lying, he was so much scarier in person. The feeling of death weighing on my shoulders, his chakra constricting me like a snake, it was horrifying. In a speed that was faster than I was expecting, I was pressed up against a tree by my throat. Orochimaru's yellow eyes were staring directly into mine. His intrigue was present, along with anger. I inwardly smirked at my success. Good, his attention is still on me, that should give Sasuke time to recover and get his bearings, and for Naruto to get his ass over here.

"How do you know so much, who are you really." He hissed out the questions as statements. He shed his skin from the female, showing his pale chiseled face, long inky black hair, and his piercing yellow eyes. His eyes raked me up and down, his tongue flickered out, and licked up my neck and cheek.

"You see, I'm your worst nightmare. I know about everything and everyone important. More than you can dream of. I'm the Hyuuga prodigy of Konoha, my skills rivaled Itachi when he was young. I may not have a Sharingan like you want, but that wont stop me from kicking your ass. I'd love to show you the good in life, make you less of a monster, but you're after my teammate, my family and I cant allow that." I stated, forcing myself to be strong and not shiver under his tight grip.

"You have peaked my interest Hinata-chan. No wonder the Uchiha wanted you to marry into their clan. A mere 12 years old and your detective skills and mind are sharp, just as Kabuto described. I've heard of your physical skills as well, lets put those to the test. Sasuke-kun can wait, he will be mine soon enough." Orochimaru jumped back, his arm turning into snakes, sending them at me. I jumped out of the way, flipping to direct my body to land at him so I could send a strike. I landed one hit on his arm, but he threw me off like a sack of dirt. I landed on my feet, sliding back. Orochimaru bit his thumb, drawing blood. He dragged his bloody thumb down his summoning tattoo, and a giant snake appeared below us. It slithered quickly and aimed itself at Sasuke. I screamed his name, effectively breaking him out of his trance. Sasuke's eyes widened in fear, but he managed to drag himself up and jump away from the snake, assaulting it with shuriken, killing it. Enraged he would go for my teammate, I jumped at the pale man again. I fought him with a variety of kicks, slashes and rapid movements. Each jab was fueled with my gentle fist, but few landed and none of them in the right spot. Dammit, he's too fucking fast.

I stopped my gentle fist, not getting the best results, he knew exactly how to counter it. Sasuke was on the side, fighting against the mass amount of snakes Orochimaru summoned. I aimed a kick at him, and when he went to dodge my kick, he moved directly into the path of my chakra filled hand. I released the chakra right as my hand made impact with his side, shattering his ribs and sending him pummeling into the ground, leaving a small crater. Orochimaru lay twitching for a second, before he shed the skin of the body I just crushed, coming out looking almost good as new. I could see the constriction of the chakra in the side I blasted. The body shedding jutsu thing he uses must heal his body of all physical and fatal wounds, but cant fully fix the damage done to the chakra in that area. So it seems like a perfect fix of his injuries, but has one fatal flaw, the chakra. Luckily chakra is my clan specialty and with a mix of my fighting styles, and the help from my teammates, we might be able to stop him.

"Hmm. I've never seen a style of fighting like that Hinata-chan. The rumors do you no justice, you've created your own style, impressive for such a young kunoichi. The strength you use is reminiscent of Tsunade, but the style you attack with is unique, unpredictable, magnificent. I want you, I want to study you." His attention was still on me luckily and we went back to fighting. He showed his prodigious-ness when fighting me, managing to direct some of my more fatal blows into the ground and trees around us, destroying them in the process. Instead of the fear like I wanted him to feel, he was enjoying the fight. His face looked almost orgasmic as I fought him, his eyes never leaving mine. Sasuke finally managed to end the snakes, and he saw an opening I made, sending a massive fireball at Orochimaru. It should have landed but Orochimaru melted into a mud clone. Sasuke and I teamed up, our Dojutsu's activated. We used our almost perfect teamwork that has come from years of being together, we can basically read one another's minds. Each attack one of us initiated, the other would send an attack right after. Many of them missed, but those that landed did great damage. After Orochimaru shed another body, I could see the even greater disruption in his chakra. He was running out of time, but unlucky for us, we were too. I used one more electrified water dragon bullet justu, feeling my chakra deplete too low for any more ninjustu. Sasuke was reaching the same point.

"You two fight well, perfectly in sync. I expected greatness, but such mastery of ninja arts at such young ages, even I would have been no match at your age. Sasuke-kun, I want your eyes, they will grow to be even more keen than your traitorous brother. Hinata-chan. I want you, all of you. You are the perfect woman to keep up with me when I reach immortality. Together we will grow stronger, the strongest of them all." That statement sent shivers down my spine, WTFFFF. It thoroughly pissed Sasuke off though, his anger clouded his eyes and he went in attacking blindly. Orochimaru laughed, this is what he was waiting for. An opportunity to strike. Sasuke shot at him, sending a lightning jutsu quickly to Orochimaru. It landed, but no matter what, it still seemed to do little damage. Orochimaru landed a hit, sending Sasuke flying down, but an orange blur shot by. Naruto stood on a tree branch holding Sasuke, his fangs barred and eyes red. Sasuke stood up by Naruto's side, they wore the same look of distaste.

"You will not touch Hina-chan/Hinata snake freak." They both said, voices low and demonic.

"Ahh Naruto-kun, you defeated my snake. Finally I get to see the final member of Team 7, and ohh, that Chakra radiating off of you, you're the 9-tails." Orochimaru chuckled in glee. Sometimes I want to give people the benefit of the doubt and save them, but right now it really doesn't seem like there is anything left to save of Orochimaru. I know he had a rough life, and lacked the love needed in life, but he truly is terrifying to be around right now. He is getting exhausted, but I know he hasn't given us full power, at least jutsu wise. I can't figure out what he's thinking or going to do. Together, Naruto and Sasuke fought against Orochimaru, showcasing their teamwork. Naruto made a mass amount of clones, using them as shields and boosters for each of them. Any of the more violent attacks Orochimaru sent, the clones took the damage instead of Naruto and Sasuke. They attacked with ferocity, such a fierce anger, and I watched the fight, not even blinking.

Naruto was emitting the Kyuubi chakra, his attacks were dangerous and each hit he landed weakened Orochimaru's chakra significantly, even if it seemed like it did no physical damage. Naruto send blasts of wind, attacks with his brass knuckles, he even tried seals, only being able to stop any more summonings for the time being. Waiting for a moment to strike, I prepared my final attack before i'd run out of gas. Naruto send a wind justu, combining with Sasuke's fire jutsu and right after it hit, I was in front of Orochimaru. I was prepared and attacked with my 8 Trigrams, 128 palms. Orochimaru spluttered, coughing out blood. I stood up in shock, as he lay on the ground. We turned to each other, relaxing as we thought he was defeated, but the air went cold and before I could react, Orochimaru's head went flying past me, biting down onto the junction between Sasuke's shoulder and his neck. Naruto and I went to attack Orochimaru, but he disappeared before we could do anything more.

Sasuke was screaming blood curdling screams. His pain was evident and I took a step to hold him, but my adrenaline finally wore off, my chakra exhaustion and injuries from fighting the Sanin taking over, and my vision went black, I fell over, but felt two arms wrap around me as I collapsed into the darkness.

_(Naruto POV)_

The creepy snake man Hinata called Orochimaru disappeared. Sasuke was screaming so loud, I've never heard somebody scream in pain like he was. Whatever the Snake bastard did to him was making my rival, friend, and the strongest guy I know scream out in pure terror. I looked at Hinata, her face was contorted into worry. Each scream, she flinched. I know how close they are to one another and his pain was hurting her. She fought so hard to protect him, but he was still hurting. She took a step to Sasuke, ready to hold him, but her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped over. Before she could hit the ground, I had her in my arms. Knowing we can't be out in the open, I picked them both up, my anger still flowing through me at the bastard that took out the strongest person I've ever seen fight. She can be on par with Kakashi-sensei and she was out cold. Whoever he was, he's not normal. A Sanin, whatever that is. I moved them into a cave we scoped out last night.

I laid them down side by side and I finally took a closer look at each of them. Sasuke stopped screaming finally, but he was sweating a lot. He had scratches and a few bruises littering his visible skin. His neck where he got bit had a weird symbol looking thing on it. Sasuke's face was scrunched up in pain, and when I felt his forehead, he had high fevers. I've never been sick, probably for having the 9-tails, so I don't know how to care for him. I just placed a cold and wet piece of my shirt on his head, to hopefully cool him off. My eyes turned to Hinata. I laid her on her side because she had a pretty big gash on her back. It was cleaned out, so I bandaged it the best I could. Her arms were cut up and had big dark bruises on her. She had twigs sticking out of her, and she was more pale than usual. From what she's taught me, and by the looks of the battlefield, she used a lot of Chakra and must be chakra exhausted. So all I can do is let her sleep to replenish her chakra.

I stayed up watching over them, I should be calm and happy they are alive, but I'm so filled with rage. I was mad, mad at the snake guy for hurting them and mad at myself. If I was there earlier, I could have helped more, they wouldn't be in this state if I didn't get knocked so far away. What's the point of having such a strong demon beast inside of me if I can't use it when I need to protect my family. If I'd been stronger, if I was faster, they wouldn't be this hurt right now. Hinata would be smiling at me like she always does, her eyes full of warmth. She finally showed me what love is, and when I realized I love her, I was too late to do anything to help her. If I cant protect her, how am I going to become Hokage. Sasuke would be arguing with me and we'd test to see whose stronger. He's like the brother I never had. Together, all three of us understand one another, we've all suffered and been alone. They don't hate me, they never have, and even when they found out about what made me want to hate myself, they still didn't hate me. I wasn't there to protect them, but this time, I'll be the stronger one.

No matter how much training I've gotten, I'm going to get stronger. Strong enough to protect them from any harm, to fight alongside them as equals. I'll prove myself to be worthy of Hokage, strong enough to protect the people I love. Next time, they wont be lying down on the brink of death, it will be me who takes that pain from them, for them.

Sasuke was still sweating, but his fever was going down a bit. He moved around a lot though, like he was re-living his worst nightmares. A weird purple aura was surrounding him too, something the snake man did was reacting badly with him. I wet his cloth again and put it back on his head. He calmed down a bit after that. Hinata was shivering in her sleep, and every time she'd roll on one of her worse cuts, her face would scrunch in pain. I took my jacket off and placed it over her. She was still shivering though, so I gently moved her and placed her right next to Sasuke. She curled into his warmth, and he stopped thrashing. Somehow I think he felt it was her and that calmed him. They have a bond, Sasuke loves her like I love her. She was there for him and experienced his massacre with him. She was there for him, like she was there for me. They are family, and they let me in the family. I'll protect our bond.

_Timeskip to morning_

The barrier seals I set up stayed put and other than waking up to check on my team, nothing exciting has happened. I'm itching for a battle, one to prove myself. Sasuke and Hinata still haven't woken up, but they both are in good condition... I think. Sasuke doesn't have a fever anymore, Hinata has a lot of her chakra back so hopefully they'll wake up soon so we can crush the rest of this exam. The only people I don't want to fight right now are those Sand creeps, the redhead guy had an evil look in his eyes and I don't like how he branded Hinata.

My seals finally wore out so I sent some Shadow Clones to do some scouting while I ate a ration bar. They taste like dirty garbage, but it's all I can eat for now. My shadow clone got dispelled and the leaves started rustling.

"Oh look, they left the worst ranking rookie as lookout. How fortunate for us." A deep voice called out. I grabbed out a kunai and turned to the sound.

"Who the Hell are you guys? Come out and let me kick your ass dattebayo." I shouted at them.

"We don't want to fight you, wake up Sasuke. He's the one we want to fight." Three people stepped out. One ugly mummy looking dude, a guy with black spiky hair and a cocky smirk, and a really tall girl. They were all glaring at me.

"Ugh Sasuke this, Sasuke that! You're going to fight me, dattebayo. For once I'm not going to lose to Sasuke. I'm going to save him and send you ugly freaks packing!" The spiky haired guy god so pissed.

"I can't stay quiet after hearing you talk to us like that. First I'm going to kill you pipsqueak, then I'm going to kill Sasuke." The mummy guy stepped up, he's the leader.

"Kin, help Zaku. Kill him, then the girl."

"Right, Dosu." Zaku and Kin chorused. I felt my teeth sharpen, the anger flowing through me. They want to kill my teammates, they think I'll go down so easy.

"I'll rip you to shreds, keep your hands off my teammates!"

_(3d person POV)_

Team 10 was making their way through the forest, looking for a team to fight to get a heaven scroll.

"Oh man, there doesn't seem to be anyone weaker than us. This is such a drag." Shikamaru sighed. his gears were turning in his head on trying to find a team that they could defeat. So far, all the teams seem way too strong, unless they could find Team 8, or get lucky.

"What about the other rookies? Sakura is weak and I bet we can take them. Even if Sasuke-kun is the strongest and most amazing ninja, he has two deadweights holding him back, we could beat them too. I bet Sasuke-kun would be glad to see me, and to get out so he doesn't have to spend more time with the deadlast and the tomboy_ freak._" Ino stated, squealing at the thoughts of seeing her beloved, as well as shoving it in Sakura's face that she is better. Shikamaru and Choji both paled at the thought of trying to take on Sasuke's team.

"We cannot take on Sasuke's team. Hinata alone would destroy us, Naruto may be a dobe, but Hinata is the top ninja of out year. We can't beat them."

"Hey what if Hinata-chan and Sasuke-kun were both knocked out and Naruto was busy fighting?" Choji asked, munching on his chips. Ino got pissed at the thought that Choji would even think her Sasuke-kun could be taken out. Hinata yes, Sasuke no.

"Ha, like my Sasuke-kun would be taken out." Choji moved the leaves of the bushes for them to see. Sure enough, Sasuke and Hinata were laying together, lifeless in the cave. Shikamaru's heart skipped a beat, he was scared for himself and for Hinata.'_Whose strong enough to take out Hinata like that, I know she's at least a high Chunin if not Jonin level, and with the aid rom Sasuke, that person must be strong. _They turned their attention to Naruto who looked more terrifying than his usual short self. Naruto's normally thin whiskers were think and darkened. His teeth were long and ferocious as he snarled at the three awaiting Sound Genin. His nailes were elongated and sharp like claws, and surrounding him was a faintly visible red chakra. The evil in the air was potent, Shocking everyone in the vicinity as he released it. _'Who knew Naruto had this kind of power' _Team 10 thought as they watched in awe and fear as Naruto got prepared to fight.

"What kind of power do you possess boy?" Dosu asked, he was ready to destroy the yellow haired boy, but when Naruto released that demonic power, he became hesitant. Maybe he can't take this boy, his Ki is scary enough to knock out anyone too weak. Zaku felt threatened, but more annoyed than anything.

"Who cares Dosu, I'll still show him real power. He's nothing but a fake." Zaku ran to Naruto, palms raised. The small metal cylindrical holes in his palms were aimed right at Naruto. With a burst of Chakra, Zaku sent a Cutting Sound wave at Naruto, blasting him back. Zaku turned to his teammates, a smug look on his face. "See, he can't do anything against the justu of the future. He's still just a weak midget." Dosu and Kin weren't listening, their eyes were on the boy Zaku just blasted. Instead of being knocked out, or possibly dead from a blast like that, Naruto was walking back to them. His red chakra was more visible and thrashing violently around him. There was a small dribble of blood falling from his lips, but other than that, it was as if Zaku's jutsu did nothing.

Team Gai was watching from the tree line. When Lee noticed Hinata injured and the Sound ninja getting ready to fight, Neji was prepared to go help his sister. His blood was boiling and he was ready for murder, to get vengeance for whoever hurt his precious family. They were all ready to attack when Naruto was blasted away, but Neji turned on his Byakugan and saw the chakra around Naruto. It was so immense and demonic. It was violent and terrifying to look at, so Neji made his team stay back to watch and see. He didn't want to be caught in the crossfire of something as powerful as what Naruto was emitting. Neji's world was crumbling around him, he believed in destiny and that Naruto's destiny was to be a failure, just like Lee, but watching how strong Naruto was, how strong Lee had become. He was beginning to believe in what Hinata told him: Destiny is what you decide, it is not decided for you.

Naruto walked back to them, his chakra swirling violently. He was beyond pissed now. Naruto smiled, instead of his normal bright, foxy grins, it was deadly. Zaku turned around in surprise.

"I thought I had you, oh well. At least its a better fight for me to win, more fun this way. Kin, you go ahead and kill the girl, Dosu, you can have Sasuke. This little brat is mine." Dosu shook his head, he finally figured out why the boy was so menacing now. He's a jinchuriki, but no matter what, Dosu knew Zaku wouldn't listen. Dosu and Kin walked over to where the two sleeping Genin were huddled. Before they could fully enter the cave, a low growl rumbled through their ears.

"You stay away from them. I told you once already. They're under my protection." Naruto yelled out. His chakra finally took a form around him. A one tailed fox. Naruto moved and appeared in front of Dosu and Kin at lightning speed. He used his tail and hit Kin, sending her flying into a tree. She had chakra burns where his tail hit and was barely conscious. He went to attack Dosu, but right before, Dosu and Zaku both sent massive sound blasts at Naruto. Zaku's blast made Naruto skid back a bit, but Dosu's blast did some damage. It entered through the chakra, the vibrations entering Naruto's ears. It scrambled his hearing, making blood pour out of his ears and Naruto fell to his knees. His depth perception was off. Dosu was ready to send another round of sound waves to hopefully put down the beast so they can complete their mission and flee. He raised his gauntlet, sending chakra into it, but was stopped when Naruto's hand grabbed his own. The chakra around Naruto's arm was too intense and burned Dosu to the bone. Dosu grunted in pain, Zaku readied another attack, but the chakra tail on Naruto acted as if it was its own will and hit Zaku into a tree with enough force to break his spine. Zaku fell to the ground limp and paralyzed.

Dosu looked between the blond boy and his teammates. He was afraid, normally something only Orochimaru could evoke within him. Dosu knew he lost and was about to lose his life if he wasn't careful so he reached in his coat pocked, grasped his Earth scroll and pulled it out for Naruto to see.

"You are too strong for us. Take this scroll and we will leave you and your team alone for good." The 9-tails cloak around Naruto receded, but his looks were still feral. He released Dosu, allowing him to gather his teammates and scramble away. Naruto finally calmed down fully, returning to his bright beautiful self. He picked up the scroll, his hands trembling in exhaustion, but that didn't stop the bittersweet smile. Naruto was proud of himself, he protected his teammates but he did it in a way he didn't like. The power boost was nice, but the overwhelming rage, the same kind that made him kill all of those people on the bridge, it scared him. Naruto decided then to use that chakra only in emergencies, and use the skills he knows he has to fight all the other times.

Lee watched Naruto in awe, Naruto was the last of his class just like Lee was, but somehow Naruto was able to become so strong, and Lee knew that was only a glimpse at what Naruto could do. It gave him renewed hope that because Naruto became so strong, Lee can too. Tenten and Neji were amazed, the little dopey looking loudmouth was so strong, so scary. They knew they needed to step up her game if they wanted to compete with the rookie Genin. Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino were shaking in fear. Naruto, the dobe who couldn't do anything right, was so strong. He defeated those scary sound guys without breaking a sweat. The rest of their team was already strong, so whatever is going on with them to make them all that high of deadly shinobi, Team 10 knows the do not want to fight any of Team 7. Shikamaru took one last glance at Hinata, making sure she was alive, he let out a sigh of relief when Naruto shook her awake, her eyes fluttering open. He then followed after his team, ready to take on someone else and finish this stage of the exams.

_Timeskip to that night (Hinata POV)_

We made our camp for the night. Naruto defeated the sound ninja and got the earth scroll while Sasuke and I were unconscious, so now we have both needed scrolls to go to the building. I wanted to go today and just get there, but Naruto refused. He decided Sasuke and I needed another night of rest to make the trek. Begrudgingly, I accepted. Naruto confided in us on how he beat the sound ninja alone. He didn't use any of his normal skills, all he used was the Kyuubi chakra that came from his anger, defeating them easily. Sasuke and I assured him it was nothing to worry about, and Naruto brightened right back up. My stomach growled and Sasuke dragged Naruto off to go get water in a pot to make our dinner. The food scroll Naruto snagged had ramen and fruit for us to make dinner, so they went to get water to boil to cook the ramen. I was sitting alone, still trying not to move too much from my injuries.

I wonder how the rest of the rookies are doing. I know Kiba and them are fine, Kiba and Shino are skilled enough in this type of situation to survive unharmed. but I wonder what's going on with Team 10, they weren't there for the sound battle, so I wonder if anything has changed for them this time. Eeh, Shika is too smart to fail. There's also Gaara, he is definitely done with the exam already, I want to see him. He needs to know I'm still there for him, his mind is so fragile right now, affirmation vocally and actively is probably what is best for him.

I'm so conflicted with myself right now. I should have been stronger, done more against Orochimaru so he couldn't have cursed Sasuke. The sounds of his screaming haunt me, I can still hear it. If I used more jutsu, fought harder, something, I could have helped Sasuke not have to go through that pain. I also feel elated in the best kind of way. It's horrible I feel like that, but I can't help it. Even though Sasuke got cursed, he didn't give into the darkness of the curse mark. It hasn't activated yet on him. Something I did along the way changed Sasuke enough that he isn't willing to turn to the darkness to get power that means he wont leave and become the heartless dick he was. The problem with that is I think his curse mark is hurting him more now because he is rejecting it, it needs to be sealed soon, Sasuke's willpower is strong enough to not break the seal now.

The fire crackled, but something felt off. I began meditating, and stretched out my chakra along the forest, sensing for any unknown or unwanted presence. Behind me and to the left, I found my source of unease; an unknown chakra. The person moved closer to me and I tensed up, ready to strike with my gentle fist. When the person was right behind me, I spun, my palm ready to strike, but my hand was caught and held in a firm grasp. I looked up to see my attacker: Kabuto.

"Ah ah ah Hinata-chan, I'm not here to hurt you right now." He was sincere, creepy and I wanted to punch him in the face, but sincere, so I lowered my hand but kept my guard up.

"What do you want? I don't like you, you don't like me, why are you here?" Kabuto smirked, his glasses reflecting the fire. Giving his dangerous presence and equally dangerous look.

"Yes, well I wanted to see how you fared after your fight with Lord Orochimaru. You sure did a number on him, I haven't seen him that beat up since he fought Itachi. You truly are something, his injuries were difficult to heal, especially from the work you did harming his chakra. I also wanted to check in on his new vessel, to see how Sasuke is handing the cruse mark. I've heard Sasuke hates his brother, I wonder wehn he'll use the power and join Lord Orochimaru, even if only a means to kill Itachi." Kabuto mused, his tone sounding kind and caring, jovial even. He truly is a master spy, if I didn't know him beforehand, I would have bought into his nice defenseless guy act. I just crossed my arms and turned away slightly, grunting at the pain in my body. Something I know didn't go unnoticed by Kabuto.

"You dick. Go away, I don't want you near Sasuke or me for that matter. My teammates are going to make you leave anyways." Kabuto placed his hand on my cheek, dragging it down to my collar bone in a freakily gentle way, but I could feel the threat behind it. If he activated his chakra scalpel, he could kill me in my weakened state.

"We'll find that out right now wont we?" Kabuto said lightly, his hand was gone and a concerned look passed over his features, his eyes looking me up and down. To other's it looked like he was checking me for injuries, not filling his interest with assessing my body. A kunai was thrown and landed right in between us. I knew Sasuke threw it, I sent a smug, Shisui-like face to Kabuto, he just kept the innocent act up. Putting his hands in the air and making a calm down motion to them.

"What the hell are you doing here, leave Hina-chan 4 eyed bastard." Naruto called out, pointing at Kabuto. Damn, we're supposed to be quiet and hiding, but Naruto just yelled and announced our presence to anyone near us. I know Sasuke and Kabuto were thinking the same thing.

"Shh, keep it down, you don't want to attract any attention. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off as a threat, I was passing by and I saw Hinata-san alone. I came to check on her.

"Hn. You're just after our scrolls." Sasuke said, his voice deep and monotone in his special duckbutt way. Kabuto then pulled out Heaven and Earth scrolls.

"Hehe, I actually have both already. I got separated from my team and I thought I could join yours."  
"So your scared?" Sasuke said, an eyebrow raised. Kabuto nodded, faking the defeated and ashamed look well. They believed it. Naruto snickered.

"Yeah well I'd come to me for protection too dattebayo!" The blonde bombshell stated confidently, his thumb pointed back at himself.

"How are you going to make us want to help you?" Sasuke questioned, wanting compensation for the perceived dead weight we are taking on.

"Well, I'm a medical ninja. I'm not great but I can help heal the more superficial wounds you've received." I did my best not to roll my eyes at the understatement of the year, his healing sills are exemplary. But damn, I need some lessons on how amazing he is at lying to people, like damn he is a master. Sasuke looked intrigued, Naruto was basically jumping for joy.

"Thats so cool dattebayo! I want to watch, heal Hina-chan first, heal her, heal her." Naruto begged, bouncing up and down in childish excitement. I felt a smile grow on my face for the fact that Naruto want's me to be healed first. I know Kabuto isn't going to try to hurt me right now, so I bit the bullet and let him put his hands on me and heal me. He gently laid be down, hovered one hand on my stomach and the other on my upper chest area. Naruto and Sasuke both watched in amazement as Kabuto's hands glowed a pale green. I could feel Kabuto's chakra entering me. It's always a weird feeling, having somebody else's chakra inside of you, but usually I just ignore it. His chakra was so different from the other medical ninja's that have healed me. His felt cooling, as much as I didn't like him, his chakra was so cool and calming. It was one of the most amazing feelings, I could feel my pain slowly fade away, and with the sensual and coolness of his Chakra, I began to fall asleep, enjoying the momentary bliss, blocking out the fact that Kabuto's healing and his chakra could feel so good.

I woke up in the morning feeling the best I have the whole exam. All of my injuries were gone, we were alive, and we were going to finish this test not right at the last minute this time. I sat up, throwing my hair into a ponytail and looked around. Sasuke and Naruto were sleeping with me in between, and across the makeshift fire pit, Kabuto was sleeping, maybe. He could just be pretending. Although my body feels great, I'm kind of annoyed I'm awake first, so I need to have some kind of enjoyment waking everyone else up. I rolled over, laying like a dead fish right on top of Sasuke. I've slept with him enough to know how to wake him up in the most irritating ways possible. I was laying on him, and I could feel the grumble in Sasuke's chest as he groaned. He does not like weight on top of him at all, he feels claustrophobic and I think it makes him feel like a Uke to have somebody else on him, it's emasculating for the ever prideful Uchiha. Sasuke sat up, forcefully moving me with him, then he not-so-gently shoved me off oh him.

"Ugh get of me freak." His eyes were still tired, his hair droopy, making his annoyed look towards me that much better. I giggled, trying to quiet my laughter.

"Good morning Duckbutt!" I smiled cheekily, then handed him a toothbrush and water to clean himself, the clean freak would lose his mind if he couldn't brush his teeth. Sasuke Hn'd at me and went to the side to get himself ready. I turned to my blond ball of sunshine. He was sleeping sprawled out, his butt in the air. It was comical, down right hilarious. The sleeping cap he had made it that much better. Naruto is a deep sleeper most of the time so I need to wake him up somehow. It'd only be fair I woke him up in an annoying way like I did for Sasuke. I leaned down to Naruto's ear, my lips lightly brushing it. I inhaled and...

"NARUTO THERE IS NO MORE RAMEN!" I shouted in his ear, loud enough to let him hear, but still quiet enough to not alert anyone nearby. Naruto gasped, shooting up, banging our foreheads together.

"RAMEN! Hina-chan we need to save the ramen dattebayo!" He said, panicked and rubbing his forehead. I deadpanned, then fell back laughing at his panic.

"You haha you woke up because of ramen hahaha" I stated in between laughs, trying to calm myself down. Naruto was stunned silent for a second before whining like a child.

"Not cool Hina-channnn." I pulled Naruto up, handing him his toothbrush and sent him off. Last but not least, Kabuto. I know Naruto is going to make him come with us, and I guess since he healed me, I can put aside my distaste for now. I mean he's an asshole, but an asshole with nice chakra. I grabbed my water bottle and silently made my way over to Kabuto. When I was right over his face, I poured all of my water right onto him, drenching his hair and face. Kabuto sent a fist at me, but I caught it. He looked at my devious smirk and realized a bit, but couldn't hide the annoyed aura I caused. He took off his glasses, wiping away the water, then looked back up to me.

"I would love to repay the favor, but Lord Orochimaru would not want me to hurt one of his new subjects. I can always just put more of my chakra into you, you seemed to enjoy it last night." He smirked at my shocked face. I just decided to leave him, at a loss for words once in my life. What does he even mean by that? Did Kabuto just make an inappropriate joke to me? Aghh. I grunted and walked away, gathering up all of our stuff. The boys returned, arguing about something, and then we all took off. Using our speed, we arrived to the Tower relatively fast, and thankfully we had no run-ins with other teams. Kabuto's team showed up and they began to leave.

"Hinata-san, you're wrong about the hating one another thing." Kabuto said sweetly, his innocent voice ringing through the trees. Then they disappeared and instead of dwelling on it, I walked with my teammates into one of the doors. We were put in a bland room, with only a type of riddle as decoration. I read it aloud and we agreed to open the scrolls. Sasuke decided they were summoning scrolls, so they threw them to the ground and out popped... Iruka-sensei!

Iruka-sensei gave us all a proud smile, especially to his surrogate son Naruto, and proceed to congratulate us for finishing with a day left. He explained the whole Heaven and Earth scroll idea: how to have the perfect balance to be a good ninja. We must have good spiritual strength and physical strength, something we aren't lacking. Iruka then opened the door behind him and we obediently followed him. Since there is still a day left of the exam, we are staying in the tower overnight to recuperate along with all of the other teams that finished.

Naruto animatedly told Iruka of his version of what happened in the forest of death, while Sasuke and I just walked behind. Even if my injuries are all gone, I'm still exhausted, and Sasuke looks ready to collapse, probably from the pain of holding the curse mark back. We were led to a small room with three beds and a shower, with only a curtain as privacy, in the corner. Naruto hugged Iruka, thanking him for the room, then dove into the bed. Mine and Sasuke's lips twitched into smiles of varying degrees, and followed suit. Iruka laughed, left us a map to find the kitchen, and left us to out own vices.

Sasuke flinched and grabbed his shoulder tightly. Naruto and I both saw it and made him lay down.

"Teme, tell us what happened when you were out. What is that weird bruise that creepy snake dude gave you?" Sasuke took in a deep breath, his eyes were distant, reminiscent, he looked slightly scared or sad of something. Sasuke was reluctant to say anything, he kept looking away from us. Naruto's warm smile broke down Sasuke a bit, and when I squeezed his hand, he finally gave in to telling us.

"It gave me power, more power than I'd ever felt. It was amazing and I wanted to give in so bad. I kept re-living _that _night, the power was trying to feed of my dark desires to kill Itachi, like it was programmed. If I didn't know the truth I would have given in. It was consuming, all of my dark desires for power were being drawn upon, it was evil, and I scares me that I was so close to giving in." Sasuke gripped the bedsheets around him tightly, his internal conflict becoming evident on his usually stoic face. "I can feel it, feeding off my chakra, pushing me into the darkness. Every time I resist, it attacks me. I'm so weak!" Sasuke almost roared in anger at himself. He put his head down, looking away from us, ashamed at what he thinks is weakness. Naruto reached out and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"You're such a Teme dattebayo.." Naruto spoke out, this time not teasingly or angry. Sasuke looked up finally, a weak glare on his pale features. "You're not weak because it's hurting you, you're strong because you aren't giving in. The 9 tails inside of me is always fighting to break out when I'm angry and I become weak when I let it control me, it may give me strength I didn't have, but when I let it cloud my mind, it makes me weak." I smiled at the wise words and the exchange. They really have an irreplaceable bond, only Naruto would have been able to fix Sasuke the way he did. Sasuke looked slightly relieved after his talking to. "So stop being a whiny teme dattebayo. Don't start becoming a weaker link than you already are."

Naruto spoke out with a wide grin and a laugh. Sasuke glared at him and they began to verbally argue. I got up, leaving them to argue, and quickly took a shower, washing all the dried blood and dirt off of me. It took a lot of force to get the blood off, and I watched in silence and anger at myself as it flowed down the drain in a clear red mess. I put my dripping wet hair into a ponytail and changed into my spare clothes I sealed away. A red shirt and black ninja pants. While Sasuke and Naruto got ready to shower, I left to go see other teams and grab some real food.

I walked into the kitchen-type area and grabbed an apple to munch on while I found food I didn't have to cook. I was rummaging through the drawers when the sand bracelet on my wrist began to pulse and wildly react around my hand. I honestly forgot about it until now. It kept freaking out until I finally stopped looking for food, settling on some vegetables. The sand stopped, and I felt somebody watching me. I turned around and there was Gaara, staring at me with a blank expression on his face, but wild eyes. I raised my right arm in a lazy wave and gave him a smile.

"Hey Panda-kun. Glad to see you made it through. Whats up with the sand bracelet though, why is it freaking out?" I tilted my head in question. Gaara didn't respond verbally, instead he covered me in his sand and did some weird transportation thingie, bringing us to a room, alone. His sand was still covering me and was squeezing me tightly. Gaara's breathing became a tiny bit ragged as he stared at me.

"What happened, mother couldn't sense your chakra." Gaara growled at me, his sand tightening a bit more. "You promised not to die, yet your chakra was gone. I thought you died, you promised, if you die I'm the one to do it." He spoke out, I'm not sure whether it was to me or himself.

"I got in a really bad fight with a dickhead named Orochimaru and used most of my chakra, I didn't die though. I promised not to die until I can show you love, what kind of friend would I be if I broke my promise already." I said, my voice steady but quiet, he's acting crazy and I need to tread lightly, I don't need to become another victim crushed with his sand. I gave a small, caring (I hope) smile to Gaara. His anger seemed to melt away, but then was replaced with something else. He began laughing a pretty psychotic and creepy laugh, his eyes wild.

"You're alive" He had another laugh, staring at me as his sand brought me closer. "You didn't die, my existence has meaning, I will kill whoever hurt you, mother agrees. I will kill him! Nobody can take you away from me, you are my prey not anyone else's." The sand let me to the floor right in front of Gaara. I wasn't sure how to calm him down, but I was hoping that he might be like the orphaned babies who need contact to be calm, so I stood up and hugged tightly onto Gaara, my head tucked into his shoulder. Gaara's sand got ready to attack, but when he realized I was hugging him like I did last time, his sand calmed down. Gaara was still tense, so I grabbed his hands for him and wrapped them around me. When Gaara became more comfortable, his hug became tighter and tighter to an almost suffocating point. I didn't move though, knowing he needed it and it was his way of making sure I was really there. Sasuke and Naruto both do the same thing whenever they are worried or whatever. Gaara's ragged breathing finally calmed down, but he stayed holding onto me.

To fill the silence, I told Gaara a little bit about my life, hardcore training every day since I was 1, my issues with my family, my struggles with other people, the massacre, and my dream of saving as many as I can. Gaara finally became more comfortable and finally was willing to tell me more about his life. He told me all about how he killed his mother, his horrible father Rasa and how he attempted to have Gaara assassinated many times over, how the village hates him and is afraid of him, and his uncle Yashamaru and how he was the one who told Gaara nobody would love him and he should only love himself.

By the end of his story I was in tears, having Gaara explain why he is the way he is, and how he thinks he killed his mother really made me sad. It pissed me off even more to hear about how everyone else treated him. As angry and hateful as he seemed, he also showed the sad and hurt boy he actually was. Gaara's anger towards humanity was obvious and I didn't even know what to day, I was angry too. It was the same anger I felt with Naruto, for places that are supposed to be 'good' are so full of prejudice and evil, causing so much pain for people like Gaara. It is the same as my clan, a supposed noble clan puts cursed seals on members to control them and separates everyone by branch and main family members.

Gaara and I were talking when Kankuro and Temari showed up in the room we were in.

"G-Gaara-sama, you can't kill her! Come on, just c-calm down and let's go somewhere else and discuss the plan." Temari pleaded, her voice terrified and shaking, her eyes wide as she took in the scene. Gaara was sitting next to me, his sand wrapped around my waist as a way to prevent me from moving. To her and anyone else, it definitely looked like he was about to murder my ass, but really, his sand was holding me because he didn't want me to leave and he/his sand likes to feel my chakra all the time.

"Leave." Gaara's gravelly voice spoke out, void of any emotion except annoyance. He turned his beautiful eyes to his siblings, a cold glare sent their way. As scared as they were, Kankuro and Temari were both stunned as the usual bloodlust that radiated from their little brother, especially before a kill, was nonexistent. Temari got a little more confidence at his lack of blood lust and began to speak again.

"Let's just-" She attempted to talk, but Gaara's harsh look shut her up. He looked ready to attack, a growl present at the back of his throat. He really did not like his siblings untimely interference.

"Leave. Now. I'm not going to kill her. Not yet." Gaara rasped out. Releasing some of his potent KI. I shivered at the feeling, it was so strong but after Orochimaru, this still was less intense.

"Y-Yes!" His siblings gave one more glance at us then scurried off. Gaara looked tense since his siblings left, and I couldn't help but laugh at how awkward he was. His lack of human contact and his lack of understanding other people was adorable, he was like a blood thirsty little baby sometimes. Gaara's eyes sharply turned to me, narrowing as I laughed. The sand holding me tightened.

"Why are you laughing at me?" Gaara demanded, he seemed a equal mix of angry and confused, making me laugh harder at his naivety.

"I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing because of you." I explained, a small smile on my face at his ready-to-kill position. I really might be crazy since I'm not afraid of a psychotic and unstable boy... well not as afraid as I should be. He still is planning on killing me in the battle rounds so that's something.

"I didn't say anything funny... did I?" Gaara's sand loosened again and his angry murderous demeanor was gone, he was now contemplative, I could feel the confusion buzzing off of him. Yet again, his Shukaku induced murderous boy was gone and I could see the shunned and alone boy he was. As sad as it was, it was also adorable to see somebody so tough begin to crack and let himself show. I finally am getting to see some more of the Gaara hidden behind the so called demon he created himself as. I tried to explain to him why I laughed, but just made everything more confusing and he was getting agitated. Finally, I knew it was time for me to go, I said my goodbye and left him to his own devices, probably plotting with his siblings on defeating the leaf or something. Yay, they have such good priorities and I'm such a fucking amazing person for letting them plan on destroying my village.

I made my way through the kitchen, heading to Team 7's room, when I felt a familiar presence. I spun around and nocked my target off of his feet, making him land on his ass. He let out a big sigh before engulfing me in a hug.

"Troublesome woman."

"SHIKAAAA. You passed!" Shika put his hands behind his head and laid back on the floor in the hallway, not bothering ti move somewhere else. I laid my head on his shoulder and we began talking. He told me the ingenious strategy he came up with to get the second scroll, defeating a team from Iwagakure by luring them into a trap they had set up earlier. Shikamaru let out a deep sigh, moving me off and sitting up to look me in the eyes. The atmosphere went from calm to tense in an instant. The tight grip and intense gaze Shikamaru had was his expression of fear, for what, I'm not sure. Whatever happened to him was big to get a reaction like this out of the sarcastic, prideful, lazy pineapple boy.

"What the hell happened to you and Sasuke, why was Naruto left to fight alone, and what the hell is Naruto, I've never seen something so intense in my life." Shikamaru asked, his voice void of the normal laziness, instead filled with pure intrigue...well as much as he could muster up. He still looked ready to drop and sleep right here and now. His eyes were flitting over my body, watching each movement I made to figure out what my reactions were, helping answer the questions without me even having to say anything. I first went through explaining what happened with Orochimaru in the briefest way possible, he's smart enough to put any of my clues together so I didn't have to explain all that much. A fire I didn't know Shika had lit up in his eyes at the mention of how I was attacked and knocked out.

"Naruto is special. I know you've heard about the asshole villagers talking about him. What do they call him?"

"A demon." Shikamaru stated bluntly, but I could hear the twinge of annoyance, he likes Naruto and doesn't like the treatment Naruto receives from the village.

"When's Naruto's birthday?"  
"October 10th."

"And what was the fourth a master in?"

"Sealing." The gears started turning in Shika's head. He was analyzing and coming up with every probable answer.

"And if I told you a tailed beast cant be killed, only sealed..." I trailed off, seeing the understanding and shock flash across Shika's face. Instead of his usual annoyed sign or half lidded eyes, he gasped sharply and his eyes were wide as saucers.

"Naruto's a jinchuriki for the 9-tails demon fox isn't he." Shikamaru stated, a definitive answer, not a question. I nodded, watching closely to gauge his thoughts he wouldn't tell me. He was tense and looked contemplating, but unlike most of the village, there was no fear or hate at all. The veil that was covering him, preventing his understanding was finally lifted, but Shikamaru is smart and I know he knows that even if Naruto is a jinchuriki, he wouldn't purposely hurt any of his friends. Naruto is too kind hearted for that.

His fists clenched tightly, the anger that I feel was evident, Shikamaru was sad and angry that someone like Naruto has to deal with such difficult problems and is hated for something he couldn't have controlled. Knowing that one of my and Naruto's closest friends didn't hate or fear him for what he is, made me smile wide and tackle Shikamaru in a hug, thanking him over and over for being the person he is. "It'd be too much of a drag to dislike that idiot anyways, especially now that he can kick my ass." Shikamaru stated bored, while hiding his slight blush. I giggled and stayed sitting, my legs thrown over Shikamaru's, his arm behind my back.

"Shika, you know I finally figured something out to make you even more unstoppable, especially with your Shadow jutsu's." His lidded eyes tilted down a bit to look at me, I had his undivided attention now.

"Whenever you trap someone in your shadow possession, if you reach down to grab a kunai, they do too. You both grab kunai's making throwing it so fucking useless because it'd hit you too, but what if you wore your kunai pouch around your waist or something else, then when you grab a kunai, they are grabbing air, leaving it so you can hit them, but they cant hit you. Then right before it hits them, you release the possession, giving them no time to dodge." Shikamaru's eyes widened more and more each word I spoke and his mouth was hanging open, gaping like a fish as I finished. I grinned triumphantly, knowing I'm right and that I just blew his mind yet again today.

"What a drag woman." He groaned, dragging his hand down his face. "That is such a simple and ingenious solution. That completely erases the possibility of their kunai harming me, giving me an advantage for instant kill that I never had before. When Otousan hears about this, he's going to go into depression for not thinking of this himself." Shikamaru took of his thigh pouch and re-hooked it on his waist on his right side. "You really are something, troublesome woman." He told me fondly, a small smile on his face.

"Aww, you know you lovvve me Shika." I joked, laughing a bit. Shikamaru grunted in agreement, the frog in his throat to big to speak, and laid all the way back again, pulling me with him to lay my head on his chest.

I traced circles in his fishnets as we strategized about each opponent we know that we could possibly fight in the final rounds. He helped me decide which opponent's ninjutsu would work best against, which one's my taijutsu would work for (most them basically, minus Gaara, he needs a mix), and what skills I should keep secret for now. We decided to keep up the limiting of my skill level until the finals. I will show only what I need to win, not show off like I so badly wanted to. Shikamaru, especially since he trains in taijutsu with me every once and awhile and Asuma is a freaking taijutsu beast, is pretty proficient and is going to use his taijutsu to fight until he has the perfect opportunity to shadow possess or strangle them. If he is going up against heavy ninjutsu users, he will have to hold off, let them use chakra, figure out a weak spot or break in the justu's and beat them then.

I told him if he goes up against Gaara, to forfeit. He agreed, talking about how much of a drag it would be to fight someone so bloodthirsty and scary. After a little bit, we got up to go say hi to Choji, and to find Naruto because Shikamaru want's to talk to him and indirectly let him know they are still friends. He's to cool to just say it, the prideful ass. I was a bit disappointed though, I know Kiba and Shino were one of the first teams to finish, so I was hoping to see them, but I wasn't aloud to go looking for other teams on purpose. I really needed a kiss from Akamaru, some fun verbal sparring with Kiba, and Shino's speech patterns always made me feel better, especially when it would be to tell Kiba he's an idiot.

Naruto, Sasuke, and I were all back in our room finally. I was exhausted and wanted sleep, the looks on their faces they did too. Sasuke looked a bit more calm, but I could see the pain mentally and physically. As much as I wanted to ply it off, I was still shaken from the terrifying time in the forest, Sasuke and Naruto were too. Their eyes were traumatized, showcasing the fear no amount of grins and hn's could cover up. I didn't want to sleep alone, so Naruto and Sasuke both pushed their beds together with mine, making one giant bed. We all piled together and slept in a tangled mess of arms and legs.

Even though I usually hated the heat to sleep, this time it was warm and comforting. Naruto was on my left, pressed tightly against my back, spooning me. His legs intertwining with mine. He had an arm wrapped around my waist and was holding one of my hands. Sasuke was on my right, my head was tucked into his chest and his arms were holding me protectively, his legs were wrapped with Naruto's and mine, the slight shake in his body from the pain finally subsided. I snuggled deeper into them, all of us were connected with one another, feeling a sense of security we haven't had in a while.


	11. Fight Club

All of the survivors of the forest of death were standing in lines with their teammates, below where the Hokage and most of the Leaf Village Jonin were stationed. My team, Shika's team, Kiba's team, Neji's team, Gaara's team, Dosu's team, Kabuto's team, and a Hoshigakure team were all in the finals. I know about the Hoshigakure team, but only one of the teammates looks relatively strong. He was wild looking and built like a bear. Naruto, Sasuke, and I were holding hands, Sasuke gripping mine in a death grip to ease the pain of his throbbing cruse mark. I watched Anko as she eyed Sasuke warily, pouting a bit because nobody listened to taking Sasuke out of the preliminaries.

I can't imagine all of the unwanted thoughts and memories of Orochimaru that this situation is bringing back for her. A few of the Genin were fidgeting nervously, others looked eager. I didn't miss the fearful glances Ino was giving Naruto, Choji just looked worried. Them being best friends, Shikamaru must have informed Choji, but Choji's heart is so big and loving, I know he harbors no ill feeling towards Naruto, he just doesn't want to fight him.

The Hokage finally stood up, clearing his throat to grab all of our attention. The room went deathly silent and the Hokage gave us all a small smile, congratulating all of us on making it past the second part of the exams. He explained how the point of the exams is to foster friendship between the nations, to balance power by having exams so not everyone can just become Chunin in each village, and to show off the skills of each village by showcasing the talent of the hopeful future Chunin with a Battle Royale. In my opinion, its more like a fight club or non-population control version of Hunger Games, presenting the village's best Genin on a silver platte as they fight and eliminate their competition. Finally the master swordsman, Hayate, stepped forward, his eyes sunken in and darkened with sickness. After a coughing fit, he spoke up.

"Uh... We have to have a preliminary exam before we move onto the real one." He scratched his cheek, and coughed again, letting the information sink in. A few of the Genin went pale, Ino especially when she took a glance at Naruto. Gaara let out an intense KI, smirking in excitement, making one of the Hoshigakure Genin blanch and pale significantly.

"What? What do you mean by that?" Shikamaru called out, thoroughly annoyed. Most of the Genin nodded along in agreement, save for my team, the sand team, and the sound team. Zaku was looking a little worse for wear, he was sitting in some kind of wheelchair thingie, it was floating, little sound waves seemed to propel it off the ground. He'd be like Professor X if he was bald and less of a hotheaded douche bag.

"I'm sorry, I just don't understand the point of a preliminary round. Why cant we just move on to the third round?" Sakura said while looking at Sasuke, probably wanting his approval for her success and eagerness to move on. He didn't even spare her a glance. Hayate coughed again, looking slightly annoyed at the questioning.

"Well... you see. The first and second exams might have been too easy. The fact is, we never expected so many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chunin Exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining. At this stage, we need to speed things up a bit, as Lord Hokage mentioned, the final round, a lot of important guests will be in attendance. We cant afford to waste their time, they come to only watch the best. Soo" Hayate drawled out. "If any of you feel you're not in top physical condition, now's your chance to leave." He coughed into his sleeve, then looked back, eyes trailing over every one of us. His eyes stopped by Kabuto and the Hoshigakure trio. To my surprise, instead of Kabuto raising his hand, 2 of the Hoshigakure ninjas had their hands raised.

The bear like teen was the only one who remained of his squad. Kabuto sent a smirk my way, when my eyes were narrowed onto his form. I don't know what game he's playing at, and having two new competitors changes this game completely. "The exams will start now, and the winners will be decided by one-on-one combat, sudden death." More groans and complaints filled the air, but I ignored them all, theorizing about Kabuto's role in staying, and examining the large man. He seems to rely on strength and taijutsu, when I activated my Byakugan and focused on his chakra, it was not large enough to be a ninjutsu user, and was too wild to be a proficient genjutsu user. His chakra flowed like a wild animal, similar to Kiba's but more deep and dark in presence, if any chakra represented an angry mamma Bear, it was his.

"Open the panel." A feminine voice called out, I deactivated my Byakugan and faced back to where the Jonin and Hokage sat. They then ushered us up onto the railings, each team standing together. Kakashi finally made his appearance, flickering right in-between Naruto and I. He placed his hands on both of our heads, patting mine and ruffling Naruto's hair, a closed eye smile on his face.

"Congratulations my cute Genin, I knew you'd pass." He said, his voice bored yet amused, a combination only he manages. His dark grey eyes carefully examined each of us, stopping on Sasuke longer than the rest of us. His eye narrowed slightly, but as soon as it did, it was gone, and his eye returned to his half lidded state. I leaned slightly into his touch, missing his presence more than I thought. Something about having him there was comforting, especially since I know he will protect all of us, and has the strength to do it. Kakashi finally removed his hands and turned out attention back to the board. The red lettering was flickering through letters until 2 names popped up: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado. Sasuke glared intently at the screen, grabbing onto his shoulder. Yoroi was already in the arena, smirking a condescending smirk up at Sasuke, who had yet to move. The squeals of Sakura and Ino were loud and they were cheering on their 'Sasuke-kun.' Kakashi whispered in Sasuke's ear, getting a grunt in acceptance. Saskue took another step to leave, but before he could, I got his attention. I grinned at him.

"He absorbs chakra, don't let him get his hands on you. You better kick his ass duckbutt, or I'll tell Shisui to ban you from tomatoes." He smirked at me.

"Like I would do anything less, freak." Sasuke turned his eyes back to Yoroi, studying him intently, analyzing how to finish this fight without the use of any of his ninjutsu's. He made his way to the center, shoulders back portraying his confidence, no trace of pain or fear anywhere on him. Hayate stood between the two as they exchanged fierce glares. After both consented, Hayate jumped back onto the railing.

"Alright...Begin."

Yoroi shot at Sasuke, moving quickly. His gloved hand was reached out, ready to touch Sasuke. Even a slight touch allows him to absorb his opponents chakra. Sasuke, although slower from exhaustion of fighting off the presence of Orochimaru's claim, was able enough to dodge, flipping himself sideways, away from the out stretched hand. Sasuke landed in a crouch and grabbed out his kunai, the slight glint coming off the handles showed the ninja wire he had already attached on it. Yoroi grunted in annoyance, planting his right foot to propel himself back at Sasuke, faster than before.

Yoroi was relentless in his attacks, aiming for even the slightest graze against the raven haired boy, but every swipe was met with a skillful dodge that came from the relentless training regime Kakashi and Zabuza put him through. Yoroi's attacks were full of brute force, heavy and hard hitting, but he lacked the speed needed to truly land a hit on Sasuke. Even in his weakened state, the difference in skill was apparent. Sasuke held his kunai in his hands as he dodged effortlessly, the smirk on his face made it apparent that he was playing a bit with Yoroi. The teammate of Kabuto was getting more and more frustrated, his face was scrunched up in anger and he was spewing out insults to Sasuke, who merely shrugged them off, taking worse insults from Naruto and I every day.

"Teme, beat this weirdo already, stop acting like a wimpy Uchiha and fight back!" Naruto screamed at Sasuke, lighting the fire of their rivalry. Sasuke's smirk widened and he switched his stance from defensive to offensive. He threw his two kunai, crossing them over one another, having them land on either side of Yoroi. Right as he was going to launch an attack, the curse mark began to glow a bright red, slowly expanding. It sent Sasuke down on his knees, gritting his teeth in pain. I gripped the handrails tightly, Naruto doing the same beside me. Yoroi was stunned like everyone else at the mass amount of chakra that just burst, giving time for Sasuke to look back at us. Naruto, Kakashi, and I all gave Sasuke smiles and thumbs up, letting him know he can do it.

With his strength, Sasuke pushed himself back onto his feet, forcing the curse mark to retreat back into the 3 tomoe form. Yoroi, seeing Sasuke's weakness decided to attack, but when Sasuke pulled his hands back, Yoroi was locked into place by the ninja wires Sasuke sent out earlier. Sasuke moved quickly behind Yoroi, sending a powerful punch to his solar plexus while simultaneously using the ninja wire to drag Yoroi off the ground and send him shooting into the air. Sasuke followed the flying Genin, landing a few punches on the incapacitated man's face, then finished with an axe kick, sending Yoroi to the ground, cracking it as the man got knocked the fuck out.

Hayate called the match announcing Sasuke as the winner. Sasuke finally gave back into the pain and fell to the ground, only to be caught by Kakashi. Together they left to seal the curse mark. The next match was Kankuro versus Masume. Kankuro destroyed him, it was brutal to say the least. The entire match, Naruto said no words, but his glares were heated and directed to Kankuro. Something happened to make Naruto pissed at him and at the end of the fight, Naruto vowed to defeat Kankuro. Angry with him for picking on Konohamaru and me, treating the shinobi way like it is nothing, and just being a heartless dick in general. The Shino versus Zaku match was boring, Shino is a badass and I would never pick to fight him, and with Zaku having a broken back, curtesy of Naruot, Zaku could do nothing against Shino's bugs.

Sakura versus Ino was interesting, they both are still not top notch fighters, but way better than at the academy. Sakura placed a genjutsu on Ino, Ino did the mind transfer, it ended in a tie. Tenten versus Temari was a rough match to watch, I love Tenten, her skills in weaponry and Taijustu are nothing but amazing, but her opponent was the perfect counter for her. Temari ended the fight quickly, showing the cruelty of what the Sand has taught them. Shikamaru and Kin fought and Shikamaru decimated her, using his new technique we came up with, he impaled her with many kunai, ending the fight quick and bloody. He had a score to settle with her for trying to kill me I guess. The board finally showed the fight Team 7 has been waiting for, Naruto versus Kiba. My heart was pumping quickly, excited for Naruto to finally reveal himself and show more of his true skill set.

Naruto grabbed me into a tight hug, the excitement radiating off of him.

"Hell yeah! It's finally your time to show everyone who Naruto Uzumaki really is!"

"Hai, Dog breath isn't going to know what hit him dattebayo!" Blondie shouted, releasing me and jumping down into the arena, a blinding and confident smile on his whiskered face.

"How lucky am I, I got the dead last, the weakest one here. I'm going to mop the floor with him, Right Akamaru!" Kiba laughed out. Man for being my friend, sometimes he's such a cocky dick. Him and Naruto are the weirdest of friends, both hotheaded and wild, Kiba's just more of an asshole.

"Sorry Kiba, don't take it personal when I blow you away! i've been holding back and now it's my time to shine dattebayo!" Naruto called up at Kiba, who was smiling a triumphant wolfish grin. I love Kiba, he's my self-proclaimed rival and best friend, like a asshole yet loving older brother, but Naruto is going to kick his ass so badly and I can't wait for his ego to get stomped on a bit. Kiba growled out, annoyed at Naruto's mouth, but before he could jump down there and start yelling at Naruto, Ino grabbed his arm.

"Kiba, don't fight Naruto, I saw what he did in the forest. You'll lose... he's, he's a monster." My blood boiled, Naruto isn't a demon, Kuruma isn't one either, I mean right now he is, but he's just angry at humans for good reason. I get why she's worried, but calling him a monster is too far.

"Yeah yeah whatever, he's just a little twerp. Stop being such a girl Ino." Kiba ignored her protests and jumped into the ring. I flashed right up to Ino, pinning her to the wall with my forearm at her neck. Everyone's eyes were on us. My eyes flashed with danger, the air around us becoming colder. Sakura eeped and Ino froze in shock.

"Don't you dare call him that..." I bit out, I was ready to tell her off, bring her head out of her ass and defend one of the people I vowed to protect from naive people like her. A hand was placed on each of my shoulders. I looked down to see the gloved hand of my beloved sensei and the tan hand of Shikamaru. They pulled me back, Kakashi leading me away from them to watch the match, Shikamaru and Shino following to stand beside me. I took a deep breath and watched in anticipation, my anger replaced with excitement yet again.

"Lets go Kiba, show that loser what you can do." Sakura called out for her teammate. I knew everyone but Neji's team, Team 10, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kakashi were thinking Naruto was doomed to lose. Kiba is strong and fast, he's better at fighting too with our sparring, but he is no where near Naruto's current level, and he never will be. Naruto will surpass us all, and he is already on his way. Hayate stood in between the two loudmouthed, animalistic friends of mine, silencing heir argument. He told them the rules and jumped away, leaving them to fight. Kiba pointed his index finger at Naruto.

"Listen here you weakling, I'm starting to feel sorry for you, so, I'll finish you off in one shot, okay." Kiba stated, feigning pity for Naruto. Naruto just put on his foxy grin and pointed back to Kiba.

"Man you're even dumber than you look if you think you can beat me. Like I said, I've been holding back, but not anymore. Now you can see the real power of Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage dattebayo!" A few of the Jonin gasped, looking to Kakashi to confirm what he said earlier in the meeting. The Genin just looked uninterested, well everyone but Dosu, who had sweat trailing down his face.

"Yeah right squirt, even if you were holding back, you cant beat Akamaru and I." Kiba crouched down, doing his Beast Mimicry jutsu. His nails grew out like claws and his body crouched to be even more like a feral dog. He dug his heels into the ground, shooting at a speed that proved him the fastest boy in the academy, sending a strong elbow into Naruto's stomach. Naruto went flying back into the wall, cracking it on impact. That could have been a K.O. shot if it wasn't for Naruto being used to attacks like that from Zabuza. Kiba on the other hand, did not expect Naruto to get up, so he turned his back and began to gloat to Hayate, who just shook his head, watching Naruto get up. Sakura gasped loudly, shocked that Naruto was still standing and didn't look very hurt, aside from the trail of blood down his lip and the cement pieces in his blonde hair.

"No way, how is he still standing from an attack like that. Is that really Naruto, was he really holding back?" Sakura questioned, only to be met with silence from everyone, too engrossed in the fight to reply. Kiba heard a laugh from Naruto, and spun around, his eyebrows raised in surprise at Naruto still standing.

"You think that will take me down, I'm going to be Hokage someday so don't EVER UNDERESTIMATE ME AGAIN!" Naruto shouted out, determination burned in every word.

"You're all talk, you can take a hit, but look at you, you're already bleeding by my hand. For such a big talker, it's time to take it up a notch. Come on Akamaru, lets teach this squirt a lesson." Akamaru barked in agreement and like the loyal, adorable dog he is, he appeared by Kiba's side, fangs bared ready to fight. Together in the perfect tandem they worked on for so long, they both went running at Naruto. Kiba threw down smoke bombs, blocking Naruto's sight, readying his attacks. Kiba uses his nose and didn't need sight, it was perfect if he was going against someone else. Naruto sent out a large blast of wind, sending Kiba and Akamaru flying, countering their attack, and dispersing all of the dark smoke. Eyes widened in shock, a Genin, especially one like Naruto using wind ninjutsu without looking tired, and so proficiently was the first domino to fall in solidifying the idea that Naruto really was holding back, and that he, like his teammates is nothing to mess with. Kiba got back up, brushing off the dirt as he growled.

"What the heck was that. No way can a shrimp like you use elemental jutsus." Kiba yelled in anger and disbelief. "It doesn't matter, this fight is over." Kiba transformed Akamaru into a clone of himself, and did the hand seals for his special clan technique: Fang Over Fang. The attack was harsh and wild, but a perfect match for Naruto who fought the same way. Naruto dodged one of the wild torrents, it drilling into the ground instead, and send a more concentrated burst of wind chakra, using the Wind Cutter technique. It landed and sent the other torrent flying into the wall. Kiba's jutsu ended and Akamaru poofed back into himself sitting in the hole he drilled into the ground. Kiba shakily stood back up, his face was covered in little cuts and his jacket was torn to shreds from Naruto's wind.

Kiba, not ready to back down, ignored the coughed up blood and ran at Naruto engaging him in hand to hand. Kiba was fast, faster than Naruto, but with the help of training, Naruto managed to dodge most of Kiba's blows, and the ones that landed didn't stop him from fighting. Naruto added chakra to his hands, activating his brass knuckles, and began to attack Kiba mercilessly. His never ending energy, Naruto didn't look all that tired yet, he was breathing heavy but I know he could go on for days more if he wanted to. Kiba struggled to keep up with Naruto's attacks, the wild frenzy Naruto fought with made it hard to dodge, and the force Naruto is able to use weakened Kiba until finally, Naruto landed a hit to Kiba's face. Kiba slumped to the floor knocked out.

"The winner is Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto was running around cheering for himself, the Hokage smiled a warm smile, Kakashi leaned into the wall as Gai praised his student's youthfulness, I was cheering loudly alongside Lee and Choji, Shikamaru looked pleased, Gaara looked thirsty for Naruto's blood, and many of the other Genin were baffled at Naruto's display. There was no doubt left in anyone's minds that Naruto was holding back, he proved to everyone that he was strong and worthy of recognition.

The next fight was Neji versus Choji. That shocked the hell out of me, now I have no clue who I am going to fight. The battle was quick and easy, Neji insulted Choji, Choji got mad but Neji was too strong and ended the fight in one hit with his Palm Rotation. Kabuto fought against the Hoshigakure bear of a man, Mitsunari, and trashed him. Mitsunari was strong but clumsy and Kabuto was too quick on his feet and knocked out his opponent with his medical knowledge. Kabuto definitely held back and made it look like he was just a slightly skilled Genin, but whatever.

Then came Gaara versus Lee. The fight was epic on so many levels, Lee truly is a fucking beast and deserves more credit than he gets, just like Shino, but in the end, Gaara came out on top. The surprise came when he was supposed to try to kill Lee, something stopped Gaara, he looked pained and conflicted, so he never crushed lee too badly, Lee still ended up in critical condition, but less serious than last time. It's progress for my psycho panda. The problem was after the fight, Baki looked pissed at Gaara, probably sensing Gaara's lack of eagerness to destroy the leaf now.

Then, the final match came. Mine. I was fighting against Dosu, the rotten sound asshole who looks like a fucking mummy with a hunchback and a pimp jacket. Of course me being the asshole I am, said that directly to his face, pissing him off at my foul mouth and rudeness. The shock people get by seeing how the Hyuuga heiress is so unladylike always amuses me. Hayate stood in between Dosu and I, coughing up a lung, and when he retreated to the stands, our match begun.

"Listen little girl, just give up, you are no match for me. Keep fighting and I'll kill you." Dosu huffed out as he ran to me, his gauntlet raised for an attack. I hopped back to a safe distance, activating my Byakugan and forced some chakra into my fists for a strong attack.

"Fuck that, I already know your little sound tricks and how to counter them, plus you tried to attack us when we were down, I don't take nicely to mindless assholes like you hurting my friends." I aimed my fist at the ground and punched it, releasing my chakra at impact. The ground up to Dosu shattered completely; many shouts and gasps filled the air. A lot of people here haven't seen me fight, at least not to this level, and I can't wait to show more, along with my team. The Jonin were probably most shocked and as cocky as it sounds, I felt my ego get stroked a bit at the reactions I heard. Dosu jumped into the air, his visible eye widened in pure shock.

The moment he realized I was strong like my other teammate he fought, I know he was ready to piss himself, at least I hope so. I love my taijutsu, it's one of my main specialties besides water, but I need to keep this match a long distance one, I cannot let Dosu get any where close enough to mess with my hearing. The only problem is I don't fully know the range of his device. Dosu landed onto the unscathed ground, eyes following my every movement. I started to make hand signs for my own version of the Water snake jutsu. I added lightning to it and it's electrified to allow for me to stun my opponent just long enough so I could body flicker in for a K.O.

Before I could finish the seals, Dosu sent a shockwave of his sound chakra stuff. I thought I was far enough away, but I wasn't and it hit me dead on. It was an extremely unpleasant feeling, My ears were ringing like someone just blew an airhorn right in my ear. My vision went dizzy for a second, and with my hearing off, so was my calibration. I couldn't finish the seals and the jutsu ended before it began. I went to my knees, trying my best to not puke. Dosu came in front of me and it was too late for me to realize it, I couldn't hear him, my ears were still ringing blocking out all other sounds. He punched straight into my face, releasing another wave of chakra from his gantlet. This one hurt even more than the last, and sent me skidding backwards. I couldn't hold it in anymore and puked up blood then laid down. Hayate stood above my form, probably ready to call the match, but I raised my hand to stop him.

I wanted to continue my fight, and I'm not going to underestimate him anymore, I may know about Dosu, but I don't know every move he's going to make. He's not just a character anymore, he's real and can hurt me. It's time that I accept that and I need to fight, I am going to win. I stood up, ignoring the deafness in my ears and made the same hand signs, this time much faster. I concentrated on the water molecules in the air, focusing down to the atomic structure of them, forcing them to move and become tangible, visible water. I molded the chakra inside of my body too, forcing it to convert to the static of lightning and I expended it from my hands, pushing it into the water I molded from the air, Forming a large water serpent with lightning coursing through it like it's veins. I sent the snake slithering through the air, heading to Dosu at amazing speed and when Dosu tried to dodge, he wasn't quick enough, the snake brushed his side, sending my lightning chakra into Dosu, putting him into a very, very temporary paralysis state by blocking his chakra points momentarily.

After help from Kakashi, Zabuza, my father, and Shikamaru, I figured out how to use my lightning as an extension of my gentle fist, it is unreliable, takes up a lot of chakra, and does not block chakra pathways effectively like the gentle fist, but using the static shock from lightning, as well as my chakra, I can block a persons chakra points if I'm able to hit them with the jutsu, which is why it has to be combined with water since water is a conductor for electricity. I only have a 2 second window of paralysis with this jutsu, but it's enough time. I body flickered to be right upon Dosu, and with a sickening crack, I released as much chakra as I could into my kick. I brought my foot down, shattering Dosu's metal gauntlet and his in the process, ending the fight.

I sat on the ground and Hayate came down and called the fight. I still couldn't hear anything, but I could see the excitement my friends had in the stands, as well as a lot of bewildered looks from other competitors and the Jonin sensei's. The medical team collected fur coat man on a stretcher and carried him off. A few medical ninja came up to me, kneeling down to meet me eye to eye. Their lips were moving but I couldn't make out anything they were saying. My head felt like it was going to explode. I brought my hands up to grip my ears, hoping putting external pressure would help relieve the ringing. Finally, they realized I couldn't hear anything and carried me into an empty room where an orange haired lady cleaned off the blood, wrapped my head, and began to heal me. After a little while, the ringing stopped and my headache became more manageable. The doctor lady came back in, told me about the final battle of the exams, and after a once over, she released me.

I ran out and made a beeline for the living center of the village. I knew right away who I was going to go see.

I knocked on the apartment door, rocking back and forth on my heels while waiting. There were some loud crashes followed by a loud string of curses that would make a sailor blush. I giggled at the sound. The ruckus stopped and the door was thrown open. I glomped the tall bulky man, knocking him slightly off balance.

"Zabuza-sempaiiiiiii!" I shouted, doing my best Tobi impersonation. Zabuza grunted in extreme annoyance; yet, he wrapped his large arms around me and held me up.

"Fucking brat, waking me up when I finally got to sleep. What the hell do you want now." Zabuza growled out. Since its like 2:30 and he was sleeping, he must have been on a mission and just got back. After intense interrogations and testing of his loyalty, plus the vouching of Kakashi and my father, Zabuza was put on the assassination squad for Konoha to make money, and was placed as my protector when he proved himself to my father, something about the clan princess needing protection. Which is pretty sucky since I still always have people watching over me, but with Zabuza, my 'hidden' Hyuuga guard duty is shrinking.

"You can sleep soon. Guess what sempai! I passed the second part of the Chunin exams. There is a month for me to prepare for my battle against one of the strongest Genin, he's at my level. I need you to train me for the third part of the Chunin exams. I still have so much to learn from you, I need to perfect my water style and you are one of the best to teach me. Pleaseee!" I gave Zabuza my best puppy dog eyes, knowing threatening him would only make him laugh at me, then attack with his sword. Zabuza's demonic glare was still on his face, but I knew he was cracking and would give in, mainly so he could enjoy the torture of a month straight of training me into the ground.

"You really think you can handle my training for a month. I'm not going to hold back, if you really want to be the best at water ninjutsu, I will beat the skills into you. You will listen to everything I say, no arguments. I didn't take it easy on Haku, don't expect me to take it easy on you. Training with Kakashi will seem like child's play compared to what I have in store for you. I'm going to run you into the ground." Zabuza had a dark sadistic energy surrounding him, he let out a dark booming chuckle. I pushed myself out of his arms, a bit creeped out at the pure excitement he was showing on being able to 'run me into the ground.' If my dad's punishments were hard, this might actually kill me. There is one thing doing physical training until you drop, but doing chakra training until you drop, that is a form of exhaustion that could be considered torture. It feels like your life force is actually drained from your body.

"Hai Sempai, I will kick your training's ass." I said determined. Zabuza chuckled a bit, and it was at that moment I knew... I fucked up.

"You got guts kid, now I get to see the skills you've been hiding from me. Training will be everyday from 4:30 am to 6 pm. I'm not Kakashi and I wont be late, and I don't want my strength to be dragged through the mud from a weak protégé so I will not tolerate lateness or complaints. You will see why they call me a demon very soon. Now get the hell out of my sight and let me sleep." He slammed the door in my face and I fist pumped, ecstatic that I get the full attention of my Sempai to train me. This way I can finally hone my water ninjutsu and help work out the problems Shika and I can't solve. I left Zabuza's complex and headed to Shisui's house.

I raised my hand to knock on the door, but before I could, it was slid open revealing Shisui standing there with a proud smile on his pale Uchiha face. His sensing skills have become as good if not better than Hizashi's in his blindness. He knows exactly who and where people around him are without effort, when I try to do that good, I have to concentrate really hard. I was enveloped into a hug, and I quickly melted into his large frame, his familiar chakra: a bright hum of excited, yet peaceful water brought me comfort. I always wondered why a fire user had more water reminiscent chakra, it probably has to do with his name.

"Imouto, Sasuke came home and told me everything. You did such a good job against that Snake freak. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you, I know he's scary, I know. I'm so proud of you, I'm so proud. You did so good, you don't have to be so strong and stubborn anymore." All the fear, self loathing, and sadness I was suppressing since Orochimaru showed up was surfaced with Shisui's words. I had to be strong for Sasuke, but I finally broke down. My whole body was shaking wildly so Shisui tightened his grasp and ran his fingers through my hair. His scent and large body, like my father's made me feel at home and safe.

"I froze, he was so scary, I tried to be strong and fight him but I was so scared. I feel so weak, I couldn't stop him from hurting Sasuke. Why am I so weak, why!" I cried out into Shisui's chest. Shisui enveloped his chakra around me. It was warm and kind similar to eating cookies on a snowy day. My body immediately stopped shaking at the comfort he provided me and I allowed myself to cry all of my pain away, getting myself lost in the feelings of his embrace and his chakra running across my skin. He repeated how proud of me he was, and after half an hour, I was calm enough to tell him my side of the story, the pieces Sasuke was incapacitated for. His chakra flow became agitated as I told him what Orochimaru said to me, something was wrong with the situation but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what. Shishi must have had an idea, but refused to tell me.

"Ok ok, enough with this emotional stuff, so tell me. Whose butt are you kicking in the final round of the exams. I feel really bad for whoever it is, haha the poor soul. You might be worse to fight that 'tachi-chan was, he was at least silent and didn't trash talk his opponents." Shisui teased. I looked up and saw Shisui's familiar shit-eating grin. "I mean, you just never stop, always finding a way to insult your opponent no matter how strong they are. Naruto just talks them and annoys them, but through that he can change people. You just aggravate people through indirect insults, especially when you emasculate men. Maybe Zabuza will beat your loud mouth out of you." Shisui let out a super masculine giggle. "Ohh, I can just imagine your adorable face pouting, trying to look angry." I turned around in his embrace and tackled him into the ground, punching his chest over and over, hard enough to feel but not enough to hurt.

"Shisui-nii, you asshole, It's not my fault I can't stop, you taught me all that I know anyways, so basically it's your fault."

"Nope, you were a genius and already had a big mouth, I just honed in on your skills." I pouted, which soon turned into a happy smile as Shisui continued his laughing and incessant taunting. After a while, we stopped and decided to go out to eat, having both of us cooking would end poorly and when Sasuke got back, he'd murder both of us for using his stuff. We sat down at a small civilian cafe that has the best Dango in Konoha. Shisui, like always, ordered a crap ton of Dango and was acting like a little kid getting candy for the first time. We were chatting about my training with Zabuza when Shisui's face tuned into one of his devious smirks.

"Soo Imouto..." Shisui sang out. I tensed a bit, knowing nothing good can come when he's in his mood. I mean last time I ended up on a supposed date with Sasuke. "Have any of your lovely suitors confessed yet? Zabuza-kun and I have a bet going and I'd really like to win 10,000 yen."

"What the hell are you talking about, I don't think I have any suitors, except maybe Gaara. And Itachi was the one even close to a suitor and that's because he had to." Shisui's smile widened in a mocking way. "And stop betting on my love life. Gah, thats soo weird." Shisui took a massive bite of his dango and patronizingly pat my head. I swatted his hand away.

"My sweet little genius, you are such an idiot sometimes. How you can read people so well, except when it comes to romance, eludes me." He teased, laughing in the expense of my confusion and annoyance. I'm not that oblivious... am I? I know I don't know that much about romantic love, but I thought I'd at least be able to tell if somebody liked me. I mean, the only reason Itachi kissed me was to piss off Sasuke so he'd kill him.

"Whatever." I huffed, "soo.. who'd you guys bet on?" I leaned forward eagerly, maybe if I know who supposedly likes me, I can figure out the signs.

"I bet on the lazy genius Shikamaru, you obviously spend a lot of time together and he's been crushing on you since you guys were little. One day he's going to get annoyed with the troublesomeness of not telling you and will confess. Zabuza bet on Naruto, he has no filter and once he figures out he likes you, Naruto's going to confess. It all depends on who does it first. There's still always the chance Sasuke gains his confidence and confesses." Shisui's grin just seemed to get bigger and bigger. My eyes widened in shock at the statement.

"Wow, you guys really put a lot of thought into this." Shisui laughed out. Something clicked though, Shikamaru is a low chance, he wants a non-troublesome wife, that is not me. But Naruto, with him they might be on to something. When we were in the forest of death, when he realized he didn't like Sakura, was he talking about me? The description fits... oh my Kami. And Sasuke, I mean Sasuke and I are really close and everything, he always likes to touch me and stuff, but I thought that was just because we were best friends. I kind if assumed he was asexual, and only had a kid to continue his lineage, but maybe he's just emotionally stunted.

"Oh Fuck!" Shisui began laughing loudly and obnoxiously, lots of peoples eyes turned to us in confusion. My brain seemed to shut down for a second. I guess, I never thought about dating or romance, I've been to focused on getting stronger and saving people. What the fuck am I supposed to do. I don't know if I like anyone, or what if I like more than one person. Aghhhhhh. You know what, save my precious people first, think about romance later. An unwanted blush dusted my cheeks pink. "My brain is combusting. Shisui-nii, you dick!" Shisui just continued laughing, thoroughly enjoying my embarrassment.

"Now now, that is not the language fit for the Byakugan Princess, what would your boy toys say to that." He said condescendingly, with a massive amount of teasing. I just huffed, but then smiled, happy that Shisui kept my mind off of anything negative for the time being. I got a piggy back ride from Shisui to his house, and took the rooftops back home to mine. Daddy should be home from his mission and I've been missing Hanabi. I flickered into the compound and went directly home. When I slid open the door to my families estate, one of the branch member maids came to take my stuff and welcome me back home. I heard light footsteps pitter pattering down the hallway, and the short brown pixie haired head of Hanabi appeared before me. Every day she grows to look more and more like mom.

"Neechan! You're back! Did you pass the second part of the exams?" She asked, a cute shy blush on her face, her round eyes looking up a me in wonder. She had an adorable smile on her face and once again, all of my worries melted away at the sight of her.

"Hai hime. What about you, how has the academy been?" I asked, a large smile on my face as I lifted her up and put her on my back. She quietly giggled in happiness, playing with my hair.

"It's really fun. I'm the best in Kunoichi classes, Lady Seiko says I have the poise that rivals a real princess. I am also the best female student alongside Moegi-san. K-Konohamaru-kun is the best male student." Her face blushed brightly, awwww. My heart swelled with pride, I knew she was going to be the best in Kunoichi classes, all of the elegance and grace I lack, she makes up tenfold. Father doesn't push Hanabi nearly as hard as he did with me, she was groomed to be the perfect princess; however, she did train and was very talented for her age. She wanted to be a ninja so that she could be a mother strong enough to protect her children.

Her grace was already apparent and she had the clan wrapped around her fingers already. They saw her as a perfect wife to a clan head, I'm not sure if I like that, but she seems to like it. Whatever makes her happy is ok for me. All of the clan business drives me crazy anyways, the political aspect of it all is hard for me to swallow, as soon as I fix more important matters, I'm going to rebuild my clan and make it less of a detestable clan. Hanabi and I chatted about her life on our way to dad's office. I slid open the door and was greeted with Dad, his long hair in a tight bun, glasses on his face, surrounded by paperwork all pertaining to clan business and mission briefings. His face was pulled into the ever-familiar scowl. When he looked up at us, his scowl stayed, but his eyes softened.

"Neji said you passed the second stage and the preliminaries. I will be training him as the male head for the clan. What are your plans for the month intermission?" He asked, I could hear the unspoken good job and held back from running into his large body and hugging him. Throughout the exam, when I was scared, I thought a lot of how I wanted my dad there.

"Arigato Otousan. Zabuza-sempai promised to train me everyday, no breaks." Dad's body was still very tense and he activated his Byakugan scanning over me intensely.

"Acceptable. Hanabi." Dad didn't take his eyes off me as he spoke. "Leave us. Goodnight child." Hanabi scrambled down my back, gave a hug and a bow to dad, and quietly left the room. Dad got up from his kneeling position and walked over to me, bringing be to sit right in front of him. "You encountered Orochimaru correct?" He asked, his voice full of tense anger, thankfully not directed at me.

"Hai Otousan."

"I see no worrying physical injuries; however, your chakra is still recovering, you used a deadly amount." He stated, his jaw clenching tightly. He pulled me into him and once again I had to recount the experience. Thankfully, his time I didn't cry. Something about the experience made dad have the same uncomfortable look in his eye that Shisui had. Something was extremely off and for the first time, I don't have the slightest clue to what it is. I knew what dad was trying to convey, he didn't have to say a word. He was worried for me, yet proud I survived. I relaxed into his massive frame more, basking in the comfort of my dad. He picked me up, carrying me like he did when I was a small child and brought me to his desk. For the next hour I sat and did non-confidential clan paperwork sitting in his lap like I did when I was small. At some point, I fell asleep and he brought me up to Hanabi's room, allowing us to sleep together before I had to leave for my early morning training.

I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:30, not taking Zabuza's threats lightly. I know I cant be late, no matter how much I hate being up this fucking early. I slowly removed myself from Hanabi's grasp, tucking her back under the blanket for warmth. I trudged out of the house and made my way to the lake. Zabuza arrived shortly after I did, moving silently, looking menacing even without his usual sword. Sadly, he still is wearing the ugly cow leg and arm warmers.

"Ohayo Sempai." I yawned, raising my hand in greeting. I only got a growl/grunt in response. I guess he's not a morning person either. Haha, at least he can feel bad with me.

"I will be training you on two things. You are going to master the water ninjutsu's I teach you, and I will help you solve your water control issue you could not figure out. You are strong, buy you rely too heavily on your eyes, especially with the Byakugan. If that is ever taken away, you would become a liability, so I will beat using your other senses into you. You will not bitch, complain, fail, be late, and question my decisions. I am your master now and you will do exactly as I say or I will not personally train you any longer. You are going to become a weapon of mass destruction, student under the Demon of the mist. You may not have to kill your whole class, but I expect that same level of deadly determination. Are you prepared or are you going to be like the other weakling Genin and quit." Zabuza barked out, sounding like a super strict commander. I steeled my nerves, pushed the sleep out of my body, and stood up straighter, looking him in the eye. Gone was the fun asshole Zabuza, here was the demon, my deadly sensei.

"Hai Zabuza! I am prepared for whatever you give me. I will not let you down." I said, my voice strong and unwavering. The intense training sessions with Fugaku, dad, and Lady Seiko came to mind. They pushed me to never talk back, to be the strongest I can be, to be confident in what I do. I sued that to not be intimidated and to make sure I succeeded in my training, if I want to keep up with my teammates I have to be strong, stronger than I am. Zabuza's eyes looked proud, like a father looking down to his daughter, I hadn't seen that look since Haku.

The first step of training was for my senses. My nose was nothing special, so the only time it was useful was if there was enough blood in the air for me to smell the metallic scent. We didn't spend much time on it. Zabuza's specialty was the silent kill technique, he had better than perfect hearing, and although he wasn't a chakra sensor, he could use his chakra to specifically pinpoint one person if they are in close range. The first stage of learning to use my hearing better was Zabuza would cover the training area in chakra laced mist, so I could not even attempt to sense him. I was not aloud to activate my Byakugan and could only use my hearing. Starting out, I was terrible, Zabuza would attack and get to my kill points before I could stop him, I was only able to hear him when he was really close, and then I was too late to react. To even be able to hear him at all, I would have to stand completely still and tune out the sounds of my own body.

The ruffles of the leaves, and the ripples of the water still made it more difficult to hear him, so I had to train extremely hard to tune out sounds, other than the sound of Zabuza's heartbeat. His footsteps no matter what were dead silent, so I could not hear him moving, the only sound he ever made was his heart beat and thats what I zoned in on. It took almost the whole month before I could track Zabuza while I was moving too, it's one thing to be still and listen, but when moving its 10 times more difficult. Each person's heart beats at a different tempo and to be able to single out one person, I had to concentrate solely on their heart beat. To enhance my hearing, I had to continuously apply chakra into my ears and allow it to basically stretch out and locate a persons heart, making my chakra beat to the same tempo as their heart, making me 'hear' it. When fighting more than 4 people at a time, I couldn't do my technique that well, but it was proficient enough that Zabuza was impressed.

Doing that training was very difficult, not the worst I've ever done but some of the most frustrating. Every time I would miss hearing Zabuza, or would react late, I would be hit by the incoming attack. My body was basically a punching bag, getting hit over and over again. I had deep bruises spread across my body that ached to the core. I got knocked down more times that I could ever dream to count, and there were so many times when I thought I couldn't do it and just wanted to give up, but I forced myself to keep going. Thank Kami he wasn't using any weapons, I would have probably bled out. I had nothing to protect myself from Zabuza's attacks with, all I was permitted to do was dodge and try to counter. We decided I can't use the silent kill technique for offense like Zabuza does, it is solely a last resort defensive measure. It's basically impossible for me to use it in offense, I cannot hear and predict moves like Zabuza can, its basically like echolocation for him, all I could do is hear when my opponent gets closer and I have to decide the best way to dodge an attack so it's not fatal.

I truly understand why Zabuza is so feared, when he trains Naruto, Sasuke, and I; he holds back. I know him and Kakashi do, but I really got to see how skilled he is, even without a sword. Every one of his attacks is quick and precise, there was no mercy, he never let up and seemed to have an endless amount of physical stamina. In just brute force, he is so much stronger than I am, probably than most people are if his rippling muscles have anything to say about it. Every spar we had when I was blindfolded, there was no chakra aloud. I got beat down time and time again, I was faster and more nimble, but he was still very fast and his movements were so controlled and calculated, he was ready for my attacks right as I readied them. I was also not aloud to use Olympic style, so he was training me in honing in on my physical strength, to counter an opponent bigger than me if I have no chakra left to use.

Zabuza and I spent most of training working on water ninjutsu. My affinity for water is higher than even Zabuza's, I would probably equate it to the level of Tobirama Senju, but I don't have the control that he spent so many years perfecting. I don't really like his decisions, he's sexy, but a huge fucking dick and he kind of screwed the Uchiha clan over, leading to the coup and the massacre, but that's besides the point. He's a genius with water and to be on his level is one of my life goals. I may not be Hashirama and Madara like Naruto and Sasuke, but I want to latest be Tobirama.

Zabuza ferociously drilled water control into me into me. I spent a few hours explaining my training already, and what I want to accomplish. I told him how I can move myself in and out of chakra with relative ease, now that I finally completed stage 1. I also showed him how I can lace my chakra and have it continuously flow a small steady amount into the water to get it to move at my will. I added those two skills together and can ride water like my own form of transportation. The problem that I was having still was getting massive quantities of water to move and take form, water is heavy and I cant figure out the proper ratio of my chakra in the water to get larger amounts to move. Tobirama could pull a freaking ocean out of his ass and I needed to be able to do that, but then make it even more of a weapon.

Zabuza started by making me learn more than the 3 water ninjutsu's I know and then perfect those. I learned the water dragon, water clone, and water jaguar. Sadly I'd need more than a month to learn the explosive water shockwave and stormy blockade. Making a water clone was easy for me and it took little to no effort to create one. Water dragon was similar to the Snake's mouth jutsu, the difference was that instead of forming a snake and having it eat the person and basically drown them, it was used as a battering ram, hitting the opponent with enough force to knock them down if not out. It also moved a lot faster than the snake's head, and because it was a cylinder of densely packed water chakra, it took a lot more hand seals to get the chakra flow to make the dragon more than just a splash of water.

The 42 seals was exhausting and I messed them up quite a few times, so I decided to limit the seals, Tobirama used like 4, so I'm going to use as little as possible too. I had Zabuza do the water dragon as many times as he could each day, and I used my Byakugan to focus on the flow of his chakra, the direction of the flow that each hand seal makes. A lot of the hand seals were just to continue flow in a specific direction, there were only 6 key one's that actually changed the direction, input, and flow of the chakra into the water to create the dragon. Zabuza and I figured out that with my chakra control being so good, and my high affinity for water, also being able to watch how chakra flows for ninjutsu, we worked hard on me getting the dragon jutsu into 6 seals. We could only practice this jutsu every other day because I went into borderline chakra exhaustion when trying to perfect it with so little seals.

Doing the water jaguar was similar, but instead of it just being a worm of water, meant for impact, the water jaguar had a distinctive jaguar shape, and was made to move and attack like a panther. I had to work a lot on making the water have distinctive shape in form for this, molding a body, legs, making it move and attack like a jaguar. It took a lot less chakra because it wasn't as densely packed and powerful as the water dragon, but it took more control to make something as free flowing as water into a solid shape, not just a wormy like dragon/snake. Whenever I wasn't working on the water dragon or water panther, I was solely working on becoming one with the water. I would train on top of it, sit on it and have it move me around places, and work on getting more and more of my chakra to meld with the water to move as I want it to.

Zabuza had me train with water so often, and until the point of me passing out. I was out cold by the end of training every day, he didn't let me rest until I passed out or perfected a stage of the jutsu. Imagine the feeling of your blood and soul just slowly pouring out of you until you pass out, that's what going into chakra exhaustion is like. And because I never fully hit chakra exhaustion, I would have that feeling every single day of training. Physical training, your muscles hurt, it sucks, but chakra training, especially to a level I didn't know was possible, was worse. The inside of my body every day hurt, it didn't just hurt it felt extremely weak but the end of the night, like I was nothing left but bones. I honestly can't explain the exhausting and just utterly uncomfortable feeling of using my chakra in such a way continuously every day.

My training was not just me getting beat down and dead tired, there were results. Not only was my sensory skills better, as well as my evading, my skill in water ninjutsu increased tenfold. Zabuza said I am on my way to being the best water user ever, and am close to being classified to a water specialist. Training in water control also helped me come up with my own ninjutsu idea, it will definitely take years to accomplish, but with the help of Zabuza theorizing it now, and Shikamaru and Kakashi's help later, I think I can make one.

I know that I would not have made it this far without previous knowledge, awesome sensei's, and being a Hyuuga, but I still feel proud of myself. I feel like I can get closer and closer to accomplishing my goal of saving people who should have a second chance. I used to want to save everyone, but that's Naruto's job, I am going to do my best to make everyone's lives better and to save those who many think are too far gone. I spent a lot of time with Zabuza, and we got to really know one another. His life was super fucked up, how he was basically groomed and taught by society from the day he was born to be a cold blooded killer. He told me more about Haku and how Haku was like the son he would never get to have. Every night, Zabuza would take me home, carrying me like a sac of flour, and wait until I woke up then feed me. He was brutal and showed no mercy during training, but was kind in his own way at night, though he refuses to admit it.

* * *

(_3d POV_)

Not only was Hinata training extremely hard, most of her friends were working right along side her. Sasuke was putting in great effort learning the Chidori and getting his speed up to almost match Lee's. He would train from dusk to dawn, until his body couldn't handle it. His clothes did not make it through the training and until the Chunin exams, he was stuck wearing some of Kakashi's old clothes. He was training to be stronger, to be able to protect his precious people, to bring his brother home, and to kill those who were so eager to ruin his brother's life. He'd become a Uchiha worthy of continuing his family lineage and worthy of holding the the girl of his dreams in his arms.

Naruto was training hard with the Pervy Sanin, learning the Summoning Jutsu after he signed the contract with the toads, as well as some more seals. Naruto like his teammates spent as much time training as he could, he did not want to be the dead last ever again, and he wanted to be the strongest ninja, Hokage, so he could protect everyone and prove his worth. He would not let down the people who believed in him most, he would not let her down, he would be so strong and beat the teme so she'd realize her love and jump into his arms.

Shikamaru begrudgingly trained hard with Asuma Sarutobi and sometimes his teammates joined in. He was working on strategy after strategy to compete against the wind user. He also worked in increasing his melee combat skills as well as his chakra capacity. He needed his shadows to last longer and move quicker. He wanted to lay on a hill and watch the clouds, but he also wanted to prove himself as a man. No way was he going to let a girl always be stronger than him and protect him, no matter how much of a drag it really is

Neji was getting the most brutal training of his life from Hiashi. When he earned the respect of Hiashi, and both let go of their grudges, Hiashi agreed to train Neji in the main family clan techniques. Neji was more adept at learning them than Hinata, and was well on his way to mastering all of them. Neji was being groomed to carry on the legend of the Hyuuga as well as be an important high standing member alongside Hinata in the future (even if the elder council has no idea that the branch is going to be merged with the main).

Shino was training with his bugs, growing their loyalty to an even greater extent and how to successfully execute more specialized ninjutsu. He also trained with Kiba, working on his speed and close combat, Shino knows that he would be a liability in close quarters if he did not increase his taijutsu skills. Shino wanted to bring honor to his clan and show his true friends that they supported him for a good reason. He was ready to destroy his competition and show everyone that although he is silent, he is a deadly Shinobi and then maybe he will be less forgotten.

Kiba was training to restore his pride from the ass kicking he took from Naruto. He worked on increasing his speed, as well as his coordinated attacks with Akamaru. They were good but he wanted them perfect. Kiba worked on Fang Over Fang, including dynamic marking so that when they attacked, it was on target and even more painful. He trained with Shino, changing taijutsu lessons for lessons on how to keep his cool and strategize better. Never again was he going to underestimate someone, and never again was he going to be a week Genin, he wanted to be up there with his friends, his rival, and those who passed from other villages.

Choji was training hard, not only because of the motivation of food, but because the determination he saw in Shikamaru. He got swatted away like a bug, that was not going to happen again. Choji knows his heart is kind, but he decided to use that kindness and become stronger to protect his family, friends, and blossoming crush for a teammate. He wants to stand tall and impress everyone, showing them the strength of the Akimichi clan.

Kankuro was fine tuning his puppet skills, adding more deadly weapons to their arsenal so that when the invasion comes, he won't lose. He spent time training but mostly stargazing with his sister and Baki. They needed the plan to go off without a hitch and with Gaara being an extreme wild card right now, he was paying more and more attention on what to do to survive and succeed. He was going to follow his village even if they are wrong, and make his asshole father proud.

Temari was not training, she was confident in her abilities to beat the shadow user and fight against the leaf ninja. She saw the strength a few of the leaf Genin had, it was impressive and she probably wouldn't win, but she knew she wasn't facing them. So instead, Temari turned her worry to the invasion. Gaara was acting weird ever since he was with the Hyuuga girl and she did not want the plan to go awry because of his wildness. Little did the sand Genin know, the plan was changed and they were not informed. Gaara was too much of a wild card, they needed the beast, not the boy.

Tenten was training with her weaponry, she was angry and embarrassed that she got defeated by the Sand Kunoichi so easily. Wind may be one of her biggest problems, but she was determined to find a way around it. There was no more time for metaphorically sucking off Neji and riding her title as top Kunoichi of her year, it was time to take Might Gai seriously and train to prove herself once more. She was not going to sit and watch as her team flourished, she was going to do it with them.

Sakura sometimes trained with Kurenai Yuhi, she did not want to get muscly from training, so genjutsu training was perfect for her to keep her week girlish figure. Her aptitude for genjutsu was very apparent and although she was still head over heels in love with Sasuke, she wanted to become a strong and beautiful Kunoichi like her sensei. She trained, using her skill at chakra (especially since her reserves are still too small for ninjutsu) control to produce and manipulate elaborate genjutsu, casing layer upon layer to make difficult to break illusions. She still harbored ill feeling toward Hinata, and her relationship with Ino was rocky, but it was no longer her sole focus, other than Sasuke of course.

Ino was shocked to see how she was equals with Sakura, and how far behind she was from Hinata. She was even more shocked to see her teammates, the laziest and chunkiest Genin, training so hardcore. It made her realize how useless she has been, she was part of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation and dammit, she did not want to be the weak link. She was supposed to be the alpha female. Ino trained on furthering her mind control jutsu, beginning to learn the mind destruction and mind link jutsu. She decided that if she was going to be strong, then maybe Saskue, or any other strong boy, would spare her a glance like they do Hinata.

Gaara spent no time training, he was supposed to meet in with his team and plan out the destruction of the leaf village, but after the meetings with Hinata, the girl who promised to show him what love really was, he no longer wanted to take away her home. The beast inside him still begged to be set free, but now Gaara had an anchor, a reason to kill other than himself. He wanted her for himself and was not going to do something as stupid as harming her home, he would only kill those who harmed her. He spent his days watching her work herself into the ground because she wanted to save people like him. He never stopped watching her, the way the sun reflected off of her hair, her white beautiful grin when she succeeded, the pout she wore when she was struggling. All of it was beautiful to Gaara, and all of it was _his. _

Kabuto was a special case, acting as a triple agent, and being up to Jonin/ANBU level, he did not need to train for the exams. He knew he was going up against a ninja that could rival him, if not beat him at some point, but his job was solely to showcase her skills to both of his masters. He first analyzed her chakra when he was healing her and putting her to sleep, he loved it, it was pure ecstasy to feel her chakra. All Kabuto wanted to do was dissect it further and feel her chakra more. The information he gathered was given to his master Orochimaru. Whom was very interested in her, Kabuto had yet to figure out what she was necessary for, but either way, he wanted her to join them. Then with the analysis he got from Orochimaru on some of her skills, he gave those to his other master, the puppet. Sasori was interested to say the least, and decided that he wanted to see the girl fro himself, getting permission from the 'leader' of the Akatsuki, a possible new recruit if they could play their cards right.

(**A/N Kabuto is a freak and we all knew that, I think he should be addicted to her chakra more so than herself, kind of like how he was with surpassing Orochimaru**)

* * *

I woke up the morning of the final exam in a weird sense of serenity. It creeped me out a lot that I was so serene when the exams were about to turn into a clusterfuck, Konoha a shit storm. Maybe it was because I got to sleep in or that I've been so worried my brain finally shut down, leaving me a blissfully happy idiot. Probably the latter. I slid out of my bed and danced my way to the bathroom humming the tune to a song I've long forgotten the words to. I took a shower, enjoying the feeling of the warm water trailing down my slender body. I washed my hair quickly and got out of the warm steamy cocoon of the shower. I stared myself in my eyes as I did my hair in a long french braid down my back.

My thoughts were running wild, that blissful ignorance I was feeling earlier seemed to flow down the drain during my shower. Now I was left in a state of confusion. I'm not scared of whats to come, I know that my people will be able to protect themselves, but I can't help but wonder what is actually going to go down. So many things are different here, so many situations are the same but oh so different. I mean Kabuto is in the battle rounds this time, and he hasn't been found out yet. What of my interference with Gaara this early changed everything, I'm going in partially blind and I think that's whats going to be happening from here on out. There are no set situations anymore and all I can do is roll with the punches. This is a divergence, and now it makes it even more real, I no longer know everything that will happen, this is my life now and I'm going to have to live it to the best of my abilities.

I finished my hair and lined my eyes in a sharp black wing, making my large doe eyes look more fierce and deadly. I got dressed and packed my weapon's pack, putting in a few extra smoke and paper bombs for later use. Father was with Neji and Hizashi in the kitchen, they were eating breakfast in silence. I stormed into the kitchen, breaking the silence which earned me a blank look from dad, an exasperated spy from Neji, and a smile form Hizashi. I grabbed a bowl, putting in some rice with poached egg on top. After breakfast, lunch for Neji and his earl rising tendencies, Neji and I headed to the participation entrance of the arena. I was vibrating in excitement, I cant wait to try out my new skills against somebody that isn't Zabuza; and everyone has been training so hard it's going to be interesting to watch. Neji was just as excited as I was but he was playing impassive to not break Hyuuga character. I made it to the contestant area and few people were there already. The sand siblings, Shino, and Shikamaru were sitting (or sleeping) in silence.

Gaara was standing off to the side alone so made my way over to him. His eyes were trained directly on me, but instead of the usual hatred and loneliness they show through his glares, they were a bit wider and looked happier. I greeted him with a grin and stood next to him but not close enough to make him uncomfortable. Gaara looked at me in annoyance, dissatisfied between me being so far away. He hesitantly shuffled closer, taking the hint, I closed the gap and had our shoulders brushing against one another. Gaara's body stayed as stiff as a board, but I could see the usually tense muscles in his shoulders and jaw relax slightly. Yet again, a bit of his sand made a small trail along the ground and wrapped around my ankle this time, holding on firm but not tight.

Temari and Kankuro shuffled a bit farther away, talking in hushed voices and glancing at Gaara with worried looks. Something was off; they were most likely fretting about the Invasion and Gaara's involvement in it. I took a glance at Shikamaru, he was finally awake and watching the whole scene with his highly analytical eyes, putting his genius to work. To everyone else it looked like he was just bored or annoyed, but I knew better, I knew him. Even when he seems to be paying no attention, he's assessing every detail of a situation in overdrive. He probably knows more gossip and facts about the people around us then any one else in the hidden villages; yet, nobody ever would know because he is just another lazy ass.

I talked with Gaara while we were waiting for everyone else, he talked about how he was going to kill 'them' to keep 'ourselves in existence.' The maniacal look in his eyes was gleaming, but it wasn't directed towards me, he was looking right at Baki as he spoke. Something big is going down with them and I don't have a fucking clue, all I know is Gaara is not going to let me die. I wish I'd feel relieved by that, but it only made my stomach churn at the thought of who he was so determined to kill. Kabuto walked in and Gaara's eyes widened practically glowing in blood lust. Kabuto just sent a small smirk Gaara's way, then turned his head down and walked away.

More contenders made there way here, and the stands around us were steadily filling up. Civilians and ninja from all of the great nations were here, chatting loudly to one another and placing bets on the winners. Most of the money was going towards Sasuke and Neji, some going towards myself and Gaara. Eyes were watching over all of us in extreme interest, I felt naked with all the eyes on me. I wonder if this is what gladiators felt like when they were sent to fight in the colosseum, just things for people to watch to entertain themselves. Of course this is much more; we fight to showcase the strength of our village, but we are still partially for entertainment. Oh hell, if they want a show, a show is what they'll get.

It felt like someone's stare was looking into the very depths of my soul. I looked around trying to see whether or not I'm being paranoid, when my eyes locked with eerily familiar doll-like glassy brown ones. I couldn't see the rest of the persons face, they were wearing a silky black cloak that covered everything except for the eyes. The persons stair was unwavering and extremely unnerving. Whoever they are, something is up with them. We broke our stare down when the person turned their head to the person beside them, wearing the same plain black silky cloak. This person had piercing blue eyes that could rival Naruto's. Their sharp eyes were watching me too, less intensely, but still watching. I know those eyes from somewhere, I just don't know who would be here that I would know about, especially people who made my stomach flip flop.

A faint sound of wild yelling brought me back to reality and that faint yelling became loud as hell. I looked down and Naruto burst through the arena doors, screaming his head off about being chased by bulls. I couldn't hold it in anymore and I busted out laughing. Not only did Naruto look hilarious all panicky like that, instead of the evil glares he normally receives, people were looking at him like he was some kind of idiotic yet amusing alien. Naruto whined at me for 'not believing him' but I didn't respond, still giggling to myself. Shikamaru went down there to end the troublesome situation and brought Naruto up to the waiting area. I was hit with a massive blunt force, knocking me to the ground. Naruto was hugging on to me tightly interchangeably saying how mean I am and how much he missed me. Once we gathered out wits, he went on joking about how Sasuke was late because he was too scared to fight.

I took a closer look at Naruto and my jaw fell open. He looked different. I guess I never noticed his changes spending so much time together, but a month apart, he looked a bit more mature, growing more and more to look like the hottie his dad was. The biggest shock of all was Naruto finally got rid of the terrible orange and blue track suit. Now he was wearing the same orange and black jacket he wears in Shippuden, but instead of the baggy orange pants, he had black ninja pants with orange lines down the sides. He looked so badass, no longer like the little orange ball of weird clothing choices.

"Oh my Kami Naru, your clothes are so cool, this is so much better than the orange tracksuit. You're going to have all the ladies falling at your feet now." Naruto grinned and blushed slightly before yelling a thanks as he put his arm around my shoulder.

Lord Third stood up, dressed in his Hokage garb. He gathering everyone's attention, but mine was on the 'Kazekage' behind him. We locked eyes and he sent a smirk my way, eyes flashing dangerously and he licked his lips. Lord Third's deep gruff voice echoed through the area.

"Welcome all of you, our deepest thanks for coming to Konohagakure for this years Chunin Exams. We have come to the final competition between the remaining candidates. Enjoy the impressive show of strength each and every one of these potential Chunin have." He tipped his hat slightly and sat back down, receiving wild applause from the civilians, and ninja from our village. Genma, a special Jonin crouched on the railing. He had a black bandanna type headband on and held a long, shiny senbon between his lips. His demeanor was slightly uncaring and harsh, but from what I've heard, he's the life of the party. He told everyone the rules, and order of the matches. He also revealed that is Sasuke is not here for his match, he will be forced to concede. Naruto wasn't happy about that, but he had faith that his rival would show up. Sasuke's ego is too big to not show up and fight.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Kankuro no Sabaku make your way down to the arena, your match is first." Naruto cracked his knuckles eager to fight; Kankuro just had a mischievous and cocky grin on his painted face.

"I've been waiting to teach this midget a lesson for trying to mess with the Sand. Whose ready to watch me take down this little brat he's all bark and no bite." Kankuro stated to the crowd, riling them up. They cheered for Kankuro, some of our people the loudest, cheering for him to take care of the 'demon'. My blood was boiling but a reassuring hand from Shika helped me mellow out a tiny bit. Gaara was looking at Naruto in more interest now, the familiarity of the situation came to him and I know he understands what I was talking about now, the person like him. I could see the slight longing, he wanted to talk to Naruto, but as soon as it came, it left. Oh well, it's progress to making one of Naruto's greatest bromances in the show.

"I've been waiting to fight a make-up wearing puppet freak like you dattebayo. You just think you're all that and can get away with picking on people whenever you like. People who pick on defenseless children are scum and I'm about to beat some sense into you. I won't get taken down like I was last time dattebayo." Naruto took his thumb and pointed it into his chest, his foxy grin donning his features. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to take you down. A bully like you doesn't deserve to become Chunin." He shouted.

Kankuro just laughed with a hint annoyance in his tone. He removed Crow from his back and unravelled it, standing in front of Naruto. Naruto pulled out a kunai and activated his brass knuckles. Genma moved back a safe distance and started the fight. Kankuro was taunting Naruto, talking like a complete dick. He was pissing off everyone with his unashamed asshole-ness. I mean I know his dad was a bad person, but hot damn, Kankuro is way more fucked up and rude than I thought. While fighting, Naruto was countering Kankuro's comments with some of his Therapy Jutsu: a special mix of words and fists to magically make people better.

Kankuro kept his distance at first, using Crows long distance attacks. He sent a wide spread barrage of poison coated senbon needles towards Naruto; however, Naruto dodged them effortlessly, using a mix of his dodging abilities and Shadow Clones to take the hits for him. The attack ended and Naruto didn't have a scratch on him. Kankuro upped his attacks, having one arm of Crow spewing out flames and the other sending out poisonous Kunai. Naruto prepared a strong wind ninjutsu and sent it towards the attacks. The wind made the Kunai fly uselessly to the ground, but instead of putting out the fire like he was hoping, it made the fire so big it basically exploded, charring most of the arena grounds. Naruto had a few burns on him, but they were minimal and Kuruma would heal them soon enough. Kankuro was fine, using his puppet to shield himself from the fire.

Kankuro growled in annoyance and decided to engage in closer combat. He took apart crow and each limb was now a different type of sword. They spun in a sort of rhythmic dance around Naruto, jabbing and slicing at him. Naruto dodged most of them, but ended up getting a scratch across his cheek. Kankuro smirked, knowing it wouldn't be too long for the poison to take affect. Naruto made the ever familiar hand signs and about 200 of himself filled up the arena, some were sitting in the trees, others standing on the walls. It was an orange overload. The crowd went wild with how many clones he could produce. It was unlike anything they've ever seen. The real Naruto disappeared among the clones as the massive wave of them began to fight the puppet swords and take them out. All of the clones except for 1 were taken out.

There was a loud shaking under the ground and another puppet popped out of the ground. This one looked more like an ant, it was a battering ram type puppet. It lashed out and hit Naruto, thinking it was the real one but like all the others, when it hit the ground it poofed away. There was no sign of Naruto and Kankuro was looking around, losing his cool. Crow came back together and a third puppet emerged. It was the trio Sasori made and Kankuro wields them well. Naruto needs to end this soon, I don't know how much longer he can fight with that poison in his system.

The puppets were hovering above ground and looking for Naruto when a large fireball came shooting at them, singing some of the wood. I was shocked, I didn't know Naruto could use fire style. The puppets shot towards where the fireball came from. Naruto emerged from his hiding, his unrivaled un-detection skills were put into good use. He was smirking and had a paper tag in his hand. Naruto got close to the battering ram puppet, ignoring the few cuts he was receiving, and placed the tag on the puppet. It stopped moving and Kankuro's eyes widened giving Naruto the chance to place the same seals on the other two puppets. They too stopped moving and fell uselessly to the ground.

"What the hell did you do to my puppets you stupid midget, why can't I connect chakra thread's to them anymore!" Kankuro yelled infuriated. Of course, even though it's a battle, men have to stroke their ego and brag exactly about what they did, taking over fighting seems to happen a lot.

"I made my own seals with the help of Kakashi-sensei and Pervy Sage. They seal off the use of the puppet by making a barrier of my Chatora around the puppets so it severs your connection every time you try to connect your stupid string stuff to make them move. I told you, don't mess with Naruto Uzumaki dattebayo. I'm going to be future Hokage and won't lose to some ugly bully like you." Naruto's speech was impressive, but we all deadpanned at how such a genius fighter still doesn't know how to pronounce Chakra. Everyone was dead silent, waiting for the next move. Naruto pulled out another seal and threw it on the ground near Kankuro. I recognized the seal and Kankuro dropped to the floor, not being able to move from the weight of the Gravity Seal.

Naruto gave Kankuro some more therapy jutsu and then knocked him out with a strong punch to the jaw. Everyone stared in awe at the budding seals and ninjutsu master. He really kicked some ass and a happy smile graced my face. Naruto looked happy especially as the crowd (well a lot of them) cheered for him, the underdog. Naruto then dropped to the floor and I was worried but not too much, he'd be fine and I knew it. The poison took effect, it wouldn't be fatal, but should keep him down until he is given an antidote or its burned out of his system by the angry fox. The seals deactivated and Baki took Kankuro away, waking him up. Naruto was taken away to be treated, but I knew he would be back soon to watch more fights.

The next fight was with Shika and Temari. Shikamaru's training and genius paid off and he kicked Temari's ass, she's smart but he's smarter. The battle was intense and Shika showcased some new skills, his shadows moving faster and lasting longer than they ever have. The most shocking was he didn't forfeit this time, he looked determined to keep competing. Neji and Shino also fought a good battle. Neji and Shino were a wild matchup, one being a prodigy in the gentle fist and another being a bug user who can suck chakra. I stand by what I said in that Shino is a freaking beast and if I need a teammate that isn't my own, he's one of the ones at the top of the list. In full out battles, I don't think he's ever lost to anyone, not even in the manga.

I love Neji, but he was being his usual dick-ish self and underestimated Shino ending up in his loss. Neji attempted to attack shino with the gentle fist, managing to get some strikes in, but his bugs protected him. Shino also had his bugs slowly eating Neji's chakra so by the end of the battle, Neji didn't have enough Chakra to continue. He had a perfect strategy and perfect execution against Neji. The crowd once again went wild, another person pitted to lose beat a prodigy like Neji. I was super proud of Shino, I hope people start giving him the recognition he deserves. (A/N this is true, Shino never lost a fight in Naruto or Shippuden. I also think he is the most underrated character in the show so imma give him some love. I really do think that the battle with Shino and Neji would end with Shino winning because his bugs would protect him and be able to swarm Neji, eating the chakra from his palm rotation as well as overwhelming Neji to win.)

There was a 20 minute intermission of sorts, first because Sasuke hasn't shown up for his fight and second because people needed to go place more bets and get food and stuff. During this, I congratulated Shika and Shino, and went to find Zabuza. Zabuza was talking with Anko and she was freaking blushing, BLUSHING. Zabuza was flirting with Anko, I couldn't believe my eyes. They would be a perfect couple, a scary and sadistic couple, but I think they'd be perfect for one another. Sometimes she would tag along on my training over the month, or have dinner with us, but I thought nothing of it. How could I have been so blind.

I walked up to them with a smug smirk and before I could even say anything other than a hello, they both threw me out of the room. With the last 5 minutes, I went to find Naruto, when I found him, he was already up and running, he just had a high fever. Despite his fever, he gave me a piggy back ride, his hands holding firmly on my thighs. We walked back to the waiting area and he was still so hyped about winning. He also explained how he wanted to beat some sense into Kankuro because he was ganging up on a little kid being a dick, it was noble and a good reason for him to therapy jutsu him. Hopefully now he'll be like-able like he is in Shippuden.

"Naru how'd you do the fireball, tell me!" I shook him, my eyes wide like a puppy so he'd have to tell me. His cheeks tinged pink and he pulled out a seal for me to see. He had Jiraiya perform the fireball, then with a seal, he sealed it into the tag so he could release the fireball later. It was genius, I didn't know that seals could do that, Jiraiya taught him well. It was fucking genius, and with a few fireballs sealed away, Naruto has more than just a wind attack now, he can combine them to make one extra strong. We made it back to the waiting area and Sasuke's match was going to be called. The arena was in an uproar, they came to see the last Uchiha and wanted to see him. Genma spoke up to announce Gaara as the winner, when in the most Kakashi fashion possible, Kakashi and Sasuke appeared in a swirl of leaves, back to back. It was so theatrical and fit Sasuke's overdramatic personality so well.

Sasuke was wearing an all black jumpsuit that was cut off at the knees, short sleeved, and a high wide necked collar. He changed out his blue and white leg/arm warmers for white bandages with black rubber wrappings. His hair grew out a bit and he looked older because of it. All in all, it looked so freaking cool! The girls young and old squealed at how hot their Sasuke-kun looked. Some even fainted. Sasuke looked up to Naruto and I as Kakashi apologized for their lateness. He sent me a smirk and I rolled my eyes, putting my hands on my cheeks and mocking the fangirls around him. Naruto busted out laughing and it was Sasuke's turn to roll his eye's and mouthed 'I knew you loved me... freak'. He and Naruto exchanged glares while Gaara was called down. I stopped Gaara and gave him a kiss on the cheek for good luck, not realizing what that meant to him and how it made some other people feel.

Kakashi appeared right next to me, scaring me enough to throw a punch. Not surprisingly, he caught my hand and smiled at me.

"Maa, after a month of missing me the first thing you do is try to hit me. You wound me my cute little minion." He drawled in his teasing sarcastic tone.

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto and I chorused, glomping him. Naruto was on his back and had my legs wrapped around his waist. He chuckled and patted out heads, then unceremoniously knocked both of us off and to the floor. I stood next to him and watched the incoming battle intensely as Naruto retold Kakashi of his epic battle. Sasuke and Gaara's battle went as I expected for the first part, I prepared myself for the genjutsu and incoming invasion. Sasuke's Chidori chirped loudly and the condensed lightning chakra in his hand was blindingly bright. I could feel the power of it from here and it made the scar in my shoulder tingle. Kakashi noticed and placed his hand where the scar is and lightly rubbed it.

Sasuke held his Chidori with a hand for stabilizing the heavy chakra, and with his even greater speed, ran at Gaara's sand dome, thrusting his Chidori as hard as he could into it. It penetrated and everything was silent until Gaara let out a strangled cry. The sound of his pain made me hurt. I know firsthand how terrible a Chidori feels. His sand thrashed and sent wild waves of spikes at Sasuke, who gracefully weaved through all of them with the help of his Sharingan.

"Blood, my blood! Sasuke Uchiha you are a worthy opponent!" The sand around Gaara moved away and there was a small pool of blood forming at the top of his shoulder. The Chidori didn't hit him enough for any terrible damage, but enough to make him hurt. Gaara's face was smiling, yet instead of the insane grin I was expecting, he had the same smile Naruto wears when he and Sasuke get to spar, it was just a bit more scary. I could see him fighting with himself on trying to not let the beast out and kill Sasuke. Half of Gaara's sand spilled out behind him, pounding into the ground and merging with his ultimate defense to make more sand. The rest of his sand was throwing attack after attack at Sasuke, some landing others being dodged completely. Sasuke showcased his impressive speed and ran circles around Gaara sending lightning shocks to Gaara.

They were fast and timed well, most of them got blocked by his sand, but a few hit and made Gaara grunt in pain. Sasuke went in and landed a heavy punch on Gaara, cracking his sand skin and sending him crashing to the ground. Not letting up on his attack, Sasuke sent a barrage of kicks and punches, breaking off more and more of Gaara's sand covering his body. Sasuke's attacks became more and more ferocious, everyone was in awe at his skill, Lee was most impressed on how quickly Sasuke was able to improve to such a level. Sasuke kicked Gaara up in the air, preparing for a Lion's Barrage, but when Gaara was thrown up into the air, his sand formed a cloud type thing, allowing Gaara to move out of the way and was basically flying on the sand. There were a ton of Ohh's and Ahh's from his control over the sand.

"My turn, I've seen what you have Uchiha, lets fight!" Gaara called out. (A/N remember Gaara is still weird and obsessed with skills right now he just wont kill Sasuke because he hasn't hurt his love. he wont become his more quiet self until Naruto and him really meet. I'm loosely basing this off of how he was with Naruto in their battle, just less bloodthirsty.) Sasuke looked a bit shocked at how Gaara, other than the Chidori wound seemed totally fine, not like he was just getting a beat down. Sasuke began attacking again, sending off fireballs and lightning as well as attacking with his speedy Taijutsu. This time, Gaara spent time dodging and blocking the attacks while countering with his own sand based attacks.

Without the Sharingan, Sasuke would have been done for. It was a battle of skills, prodigy versus 'demon' boy and it was amazing. The fight was so intriguing that I almost completely forgot about the supposed invasion that should be happening. The tide of the battle turned when a massive, and I mean massive wave of sand raised up behind Gaara. All the sand he was creating was enough to crush this entire arena. Sasuke, along with everyone else looked wide eyed at the crazy amounts of sand Gaara could manipulate. He raised both of his hands in front of hum, palms facing Skyward.

"Sand Tsunami" The massive wall of sand went crashing down from every direction, heading straight for Sasuke. He had no chance of dodging this attack and he knew it. My chest constricted painfully, I was nervous, was Gaara really going to try to kill Sasuke. I pushed off Kakashi's hand and got ready to go stop the attack, Naruto was looking ready to change into 9-tails mode, and there were lots of people screaming for Sasuke to run. I took a step forward when my eyes met the sea foam eyes of Gaara. He gave me a small smile, a real one and I relaxed. His look said everything, he wasn't going to kill Sasuke and I just had to trust that.

The sand wrapped all around Sasuke's body, leaving only his head peaking out the top. It was like the headhunter jutsu and if the room wasn't so tense, I'd laugh at how ridiculous his duckbutt head looked sticking out like that. "Give up Sasuke Uchiha, any effort to get out of this attack is futile." Kankuro and Temari gasped, they knew his bloodlust first hand and never thought he would give somebody the option to concede instead of just killing them. Sasuke's head looked down in slight shame, he winced as the sand kept tightening around him.

"I. Give." Sasuke grit out the words like they were killing him to say. There goes his Uchiha pride. The crowd went silent, everyone was shocked at the Uchiha, the person who was thought to win the entire exam, lost in his first round. Gaara was the first one back up here, I gave him a hug and thanked him for not killing Sasuke. His tense body finally relaxed into my hug, and he returned it, mumbling something under his breath. Sasuke looked so defeated, yet he held an aura of pride, I think he realized that Gaara is in a league of his own with his sand defense, and with a beast inside of him like Naruto, there was no hope of him winning at this skill level. I was a little on edge because the invasion hasn't happened and I have no fucking clue what is going on, but I just pushed it aside.

"Duckbutt!" I called out happily, he turned to me, a small smirk making its way onto his pale face, then a frown when he saw I was just with Gaara. I jumped on Sasuke's back, purposely making him grunt and stumble from my force.

"I knew you couldn't keep your hands off of me, fangirl." He smirked at me yet let me stay on his back.

"dude that was awesome, I mean you lasted way longer against Gaara than anyone else. And the Chidori, that was so cool! You had all of your fangirls swooning when you did it. What's up with the outfit though, I mean, the arm bands are super dope, but why change it up?"I pestered him with questions while the proctors were doing something. Sasuke chuckled.

"You're just as annoying as the dobe." Naruto shouted an indignant 'Teme!' "The Chidori ruined my other clothes." I nodded in understanding but stopped myself from talking as my and Kabuto's names were called. Kakashi pat my shoulder in assurance and I could just feel Zabuza glaring at me to not lose.

"Kick four-eyes' ass Hina-chan!" Naruto said as we fist bumped.

"Hn. You better not lose freak, can't let the dobe be the only one who passes."

"Maximum Effort!" I embraced my inner Deadpool and hopped into the arena, doing a superhero landing. Kabuto slowly made his way over to Genma and I, his glasses reflecting the light as he put a suspicious smirk on his face. Kabuto and I shook hands and Genma retreated to safety. Kabuto held onto my hand and pulled me to him so he could whisper in my ear.

"I can't make you bleed. Maybe I'll even let you enjoy my chakra again, I know I'm going to enjoy feeling yours." He purred creepily. "Lets give my master the show he wants." I pushed myself away from him, heavily weirded out.

"The only thing you'll feel from me is my fist in your face." It was kind of lame, but I was too flustered to say anything else. Why the fuck is he talking like that about my chakra, like its some kind of addictive opium. Genma called out for us to start and I moved away from Kabuto. I really don't want a chakra scalpel to the thigh again, that hurt like a all my thought's aside, I focused on the battle in front of me. He is at the caliber of Kakashi, so I have to fight my hardest for any chance of winning. I activated my Byakugan and watched as Kabuto sent his chakra into his hands, thinning out his chakra into blades around each of his hands.

He charged at me with blinding speed, his hand aiming for my thigh, but I jumped up, grabbed onto his wrist adding chakra into my hand to crush it, and threw him over my shoulder, spinning my body away from his to avoid the slice of his opposite hand. He landed with cat like reflexes, skidding back slightly. I landed across from him, a good distance away yet again. He flexed his wrist and I could hear the bones cracking together, but almost right away, the cracking stopped. I knew his healing factor was unbelievable but to be able to counter my attack as I gave it, and heal the rest so quickly, that should be impossible.

I stared Kabuto down as I made the hand signs I've been going over for the past month. I felt the air around me, pushing my chakra out into it. I grasped at the moisture all around me with my chakra, pulling it from peoples water bottles and from the moisture hanging in the air. Pouring more chakra out of my body and into the water around me, I concentrated as my chakra fused the water together while adding in heat to it, turning it into a grey cloud of mist. Half of the arena around us was covered in dense, chakra laced mist from the Hidden Mist jutsu. I watched through the mist, locating Kabuto. I connected a small stream of chakra from my ears into the mist, searching around until I connected with his, latching onto his chakra, I pushed it to his heard until I heard the familiar 'thump' of a heart beat. His was beating excitingly, not nervous or erratic, just like someone who is really happy. I tuned out all of the noise around me, the crowd disappeared, the arena disappeared, all that was left was Kabuto and I, all I could see and hear was him.

I padded my feet with Chakra to silence my footsteps and ran at him, my hands ready for a chakra infused punch. I swing my hand at him, but he sensed I was there and dodged to the left, right into the path of the roundhouse I had altered my movements to allow. The kick connected with his chakra protected gut and he rammed into the wall, the cement around him cracking like a spiderweb, large chunks falling to the ground. He coughed up blood, but wiped it off, standing back up like I did nothing wrong. The mist was still surrounding us so I wont in for another attack, doing my best to switch between Hyuuga and olympic style fighting so he can't predict my moves. The problem was most of my hits missed, he knew where I was and was ready to dodge everything. I knew his chakra was going to give out on healing him soon, but it still felt like he was playing with me.

"How do you know where I am? I don't get it." I asked annoyed as I dispersed the mist, it wasn't helping me enough right now to keep using my chakra for it. Kabuto plastered a creepy smile on his face and pushed up his glasses.

"Your chakra is so wonderful, addicting even, and I can just _feel_ it when you're near me. When I healed you that day, I was also connecting out chakras. That calming you felt was from me forcing your chakra to mix with mine, I never knew anyone's chakra other than Orochimaru-sama could feel so tantalizing. So now, because I know your chakra, what it feels like within me, I can sense your presence." His grin became like a madman. He's like a vampire but for my chakra. What the hell, why'd he have to make it sound so intimate. I shivered a bit and with the distraction he caused, I was slow enough in my reaction that he landed an attack to my right hip, making it so if I put any weight down it's hurt like a bitch, and either way, my leg was useless, with my hip disconnected, I couldn't run or fight. I fell to the ground and I heard a loud scream, only registering it was me when the pain flooded my system. "Ahh, so defenseless now, like a little bunny. Maybe I should get another fix of your chakra." My anger began to surface, at myself and at Kabuto.

"How cute, the only way you can have a girl is when they can't fucking walk. I bet your mom is so proud" I grit out attempting not to cry in pain. Being the asshole I'll admit I am sometimes, the mom thing was a low blow. I knew it when his eyes seemed to flash red. "I only need you living to feel your chakra."

He lunged and I basically channeled Rock Lee as I did a handstand and jumped backwards from his attack. I let myself down and pulled the water I previously dispersed back together with my chakra, making a water snake. I allowed the top of the head of the snake to cover my lower half, up to my waist, expelling chakra to keep me steady in the snake. My chakra flowed throughout my jutsu and I forced it to move, the snake following my directions. If I cant walk, I'll have to ride. I took a glance to Zabuza, he was smirking in pride. I raised myself higher into the air to hover over Kabuto in a hopefully intimidating manner.

He started making unfamiliar hand signs so I activated my Byakugan to hopefully figure out what he was going to do. His chakra burst into the ground, he was going to do an earth ninjutsu. Earth can overpower water, but is weak to lightning. If I have a water jutsu stronger than his Earth one, or use lightning hopefully I can win. He finished his hand signs and a bunch of rocks came shooting out of the ground. I did my best to get my snake to dodge, but it was futile and a few managed to hit, sending me tumbling back to the ground. My head made contact with the earth and I felt the blood dripping down my face. There were scratches and bruises littering my body now but I wasn't ready to give up.

I re-made the snake, getting back to riding it, I can't be a sitting duck. My chakra was depleting bit by bit. Kabuto prepared another Earth Jutsu, his whole body was exerting a massive blood lust. Instead of being fearful like any sane person, I let myself enjoy the fight, the adrenaline, the insanity. I began to wrap my water snake around Kabuto, curling like a python around his prey. He was going to finish his hand seals to get out of it, but I did my 6 seals just as fast.

"Earth Style: Boulder rain"

"Water Dragon Jutsu" We shouted at the same time. Miniature boulders began to raise up from the ground, then started falling, crashing and destroying what they hit. A giant water dragon emerged from the base of my snake and I aimed the dragon right at Kabuto, hitting him dead on. A boulder hit my side and I released the jutsu's, but I knew I had the upper hand, I was positioned in my fall right over the barely conscious Kabuto. Blood was dripping down his mouth from the dragon's impact. I put more chakra into my fist aiming it at his chest.

"Falcon Punch!" (A/N when I throw a punch thats what I say in real life) I released chakra on impact, I heard the sickening cracking his sternum and knocked him out. The ground beneath him was demolished and we were laying in a small crater.

"Winner Hinata Hyuuga." The crowd went wild in awe at both Kabuto's and my skills. Zabuza popped up, right by my side. He picked me up as gentle as he could and was carrying me in his arms. I raised my fist and plastered a pained grin on my face. Naruto's cheering was the loudest of them all, but some of my other friends were giving me worried glances. I probably looked like shit.

"You did good kid." Zabuza said as he looked over my visible wounds. There was a burst of KI and Gaara was by my side, his eyes glaring dangerously at Kabuto. He raised his hand and sand began to wrap around Kabuto.

"You hurt her, I'll kill you." He yelled out. I tried to talk to him, but he wasn't listening. Before Gaara could kill Kabuto, Gai came and forced the sand away but not before Gaara completely took off one of Kabuto's legs from the knee down. I turned away, burying my head in Zabuza's chest, determined not to puke at the horrific sight.

That was the trigger to the shit show of the invasion.

* * *

_(Sasori POV) The start of the final stage of the exams _(A/N this is to introduce the Akatsuki and Sasori, of course they'd be interested in a girl who knew his secrets. Sorry his personality isn't perfectly crafted yet, I wont do his pov anymore probably cuz its hard to get Sasori's attitude down like that)

I was sitting with the idiot bomber teammate of mine. My subordinate told me of a leaf Genin who knew of my identity and that he was my and the snake's spy. She knows too much and I need to know how some rookie leaf village brat knows so much. Leader found this out and we were sent to gather intel on this girl, as well as the 1-tails that will be there. I was in the stands surrounded by rowdy people. I'm annoyed, the girl hasn't even shown up yet and I'm sick of waiting around for her with Deidara who won't shut his mouth about his failure that he claims as art. My eyes were trained on the red-head from my home village. The jinchuriki for Shukaku. I heard he was a bloodthirsty monster who everyone is afraid of, but he just looks like a brat to me. I need to see how his sand defense works. He was standing there glaring harshly at his teammates, but his body language shifted to be happier when the door opened. My eyes narrowed at the girl who walked through the door.

Hinata Hyuuga, she had long blue hair and a doll like face and body. She looked weak, a little doll that is meant for dressing up and being married off. That was until I saw her eyes. They were large and doll-like, but held a ferocity I would love to see drain from them. Her eyes traveled the room, they were calculating and held intelligence behind them. She looks so harmless, if not for her eyes I would not believe she could be the girl Kabuto told me about. Her gaze stopped at the jinchuriki and instead of fearing him like everyone else, she smiled and stood next to him, their shoulders brushing. Interesting, she befriended a murdering demon child. She smiled a kind and goofy smile at the boy and he melted like the brat he is. The demon is in love with her, that is useful to know. She tensed up and her eyes caught mine. We stared at one another and slight recognition flashed in her eyes. Her emotions were right on her face, she is not a real ninja, she is too emotional, imperfect; yet, something is intriguing about her.

"Danna, thats the girl yeah? She's cute but looks weak un." I broke contact and turned to the idiot beside me, and we discussed the analysis about her and the jinchuriki.

After the brat Gaara's fight, it was finally time for the Hyuuga. Her battle was brutal and she seemed to mess around a lot, she has a big mouth that is very foul. I was impressed with her skill, she looks like a perfect little doll but fights unforgivingly. She is no where near a Genin level. She moves quick and agile in ways I've never seen, her chakra control is flawless like mine, her strength is that of the bimbo Sanin Tsunade, and her water mastery is unlike anyone I've ever seen. She is worthy of being my puppet, she will continue to be as beautiful as she is for all eternity and she will not be able to open her annoying mouth. I stood up and began to leave.

"Lets go brat, I don't like to be kept waiting."

* * *

Gaara's sand was swirling widely, preparing to attack Gai, but a loud explosion in the Kage's box stopped him, along with everyone else. All the attention turned to the explosion, and when the dust cleared, the Kazekage and a few other Sand ninja were holding the Hokage hostage at knife point. The 'Kazekage' smirked and let out an evil chuckle, then disappeared with Lord Third, Leaf ANBU hot on his trail. Not a second later, the arena was being overrun with Sand and Sound ninja, all of them aiming to kill. It was complete and utter chaos, everywhere I looked, people were fighting, dying, or fleeing. Kunai were barreling at Gaara, but his sand blocked them all, rendering them useless. Any ninja that attempted to get near me and Zabuza, Gaara crushed them mercilessly. Zabuza lowered me to the ground, his eyes filled with lust for battle, yet there was still worry. I hissed as my hip touched the ground, this is literally the worst time to not be able to walk.

"Hinata, I'm going to set your hip, I'm no doctor and this is going to hurt like a bitch but you better not cry about it brat. We need you moving, I cant protect you if I cant fight." I nodded and bit down on my lip, preparing myself for pain. The tendons are wrecked, but if the bone is in place again, I'll at least be able to walk for now. Zabuza placed his large hands on My hips and with a hard push, there was a crack and my hip was no longer dislodged from its socket. I let out a loud string of curses, my mouth more foul than normal. Zabuza chuckled and pat my head, knowing I'd be fine.

"Dammit Motherfucker, that shit hurts like a fucking bitch." Before standing up, I ripped off my fishnet shirt and tied it as tight as I could around my hip, so at least it could have the slightest bit of stability. I pushed myself up, ignoring all of the thoughts of needing to stop moving. Four sand and two sound Shinobi surrounded Gaara, Zabuza, and I. They looked deadly, and by the malicious looks on both Gaara and Zabuza's faces, they were all top notch ninja. The sound Shinobi drew Zabuza away in a feirce battle and leaving the rest to Gaara and I. I pulled out my dagger for the first time in a while, blocking the sword swiped at me, but I was still off balance and the ninja kicked me, aiming for my injured hip.

I moved enough to redirect the hit to my thigh, but the pain flared throughout my leg. While I was busy with this guy, the other 3 were fighting Gaara. Gaara managed to crush one of his opponents but with perfect precision, the other two landed attacks. The taller ninja sent a massive wave of water at Gaara, dampening his sand making it heavy and too slow to guard from most attacks. When this happened, the other shinobi landed a heavy blow to Gaara, injecting him with some kind of extremely potent sleeper agent. Fuck, they dragged Gaara off somewhere to release Shukaku themselves since he was so unwilling. The ninja I was fighting was about to send another attack but stopped as a Kunai was sticking out of his chest.

"Hinata. Go with Pakkun. I'll send Naruto and Sasuke as backup." Kakashi ordered, all hints of his playfulness gone. He was a deadly ninja now, Kakashi the Sharingan Warrior. Pakkun was summoned and he took off, me following behind him, gritting my teeth as I did my best to ignore the excruciating pain my hip was sending throughout my leg. After a few minutes, we made it to a small clearing. I perched on the trees, watching to see what I needed to do. Gaara was awake again, he luckily wasn't out long enough to release Shukaku yet. There was chakra suppressors on his arms, preventing him from doing anything. The shorter ninja from before punched and kicked Gaara repeatedly.

"You damn demon, you know your role in the invasion. Release Shukaku or we will make you!" He roared, sending another kick to Gaara, who this time coughed up blood. Gaara just grinned up at the men.

"I'll kill each and everyone of you, I cant wait to feel alive as the red of your blood glistens in my sand." I shivered at the tone of his voice, it was excited and angry. A bad combination for him. Another punch was sent to Gaara's face. His normally black eyes were swollen, and there were bruises littering his usually perfect skin.

"If you wont cooperate, I will just kill you. I'm sure the village wont miss a psychopathic demon like you. I know your dear father wouldn't." The man pulled out a kunai, walking towards Gaara with a look of lust. He was so ready to kill Gaara. He brought the Kunai down, piercing through Gaara's forearm. The two Sand Shinobi laughed in pure glee as they ripped out the Kunai and drove it back down on Gaara. I saw red, my anger reached it's peak. Gaara, a boy who had the misfortune of growing up with the Shittiest life imaginable, betrayed by everyone he loved and was taught to hate the world. Yet, somehow he found away to change, he protected me when I was so easy to kill, he decided to go against his village, not releasing Shukaku just to protect the place I love. He was my friend, my family and they were just torturing him for the fun of it. It's the same as Naruto, they were one and the same. How can people be so cruel and hateful, they are not worth donning the title of Shinobi, having no reason to hurt Gaara but for their own pleasure. Something inside me snapped and I appeared right before one of the men, clutching his hand in mine, crushing all of the bones with ease.

"Don't touch him you monster." I growled out, my voice was shaking with anger. "He has done nothing to you, yet you attack and torture him. You all fear him because of what your village put inside of him, but you beat on him when he wont release what you are all so scared of. He is a hero, containing the beast that could so easily take you out, yet you treat him like the monster so I'll say it again. Don't. Touch. Gaara." Instead of crying out like I thought he would with a crushed hand, he laughed right in my face.

"You idiotic little girl trying to play the hero. You just fell into our trap. I see the way you interact with the demon, and how much he cares about you. I knew you'd follow even in your pathetic state and now you're my leverage." His teammate came up and restrained me, putting pressure on my hip and holding my hands tightly behind me. With his broken hand, he raised the kunai to my throat, and just to be an asshole, he threw another Kunai at Gaara, hitting him where Sasuke's Chidori struck. "Demon boy, If you want her to live, release Shukaku." Gaara stood up and closed his eyes in defeat.

"Fine, but remember this, I will kill you both for touching her." My eyes widened in fear.

"No Gaara, please you don't have to do this." I cried out, my voice weak and pleading. The Shinobi with the broken hand made a mistake. He removed the suppression cuffs from Gaara and there was only one man holding me down. Gaara raised his sand to kill them, but I saw the new man who appeared behind him. Gaara's sand was still slow and couldn't block the attack, so I did what needed to be done.

I twisted out of my captors grip, giving him a gentle fist to the chest. His chakra to his lungs and heart were severed and he dropped town to the ground dead. The unknown man readied a kunai, but I was faster and I threw mine with accuracy I never had before. The kunai pierced right between his eyes. The third man, I took out with a chakra infused punch to the head, crushing his skull. I could feel and see the life of each of them leave and it was when the final man dropped to the ground that I realized what I'd done. I'd taken a life, something I never have done. I knew it was coming and would be part of the job but I never actually thought about it too much, taking a life with my own hands. That's what scared me, it was so easy and I did it with no hesitation. My hands were covered in blood, maybe not literally, but it was still there. What right do I have to play god, I know I said I would do anything to protect my friends, but I killed 3 men.

I sank to my knees, my senses completely shut off. All I could see was the blood covering my hands and pooling around me. I could feel my chakra severing the man's chakra in his heart, I could see the way my kunai pierced the man's head, spraying his gray matter across the trees, I could feel the man's skull collapse. Oh god could I feel his skull collapse, I could feel it in perfect quality as my fist made contact with his skull, the feeling of it cracking like a cracker. I didn't even know I could do that and yet I did it with perfect ease.

I knew exactly where to hit and what to do to kill each man effortlessly. All I could feel were their deaths, it was all my fault. I did it, I did it with no hesitation, and the thing that scares me the most is I'd do it again. I feel guilty, I feel so guilty for taking their lives but I feel no regret. It was them or us, and I chose us. I will always choose us. Shouldn't I feel more bad, does this make me the monster? I ignored the 'blood' that covered my body and put my hands over my eyes. Crying loudly.

"I killed them, I killed them." I chanted over an over. I killed them and I would kill them again and again to save Gaara. I can still see their deaths, I can feel it. I killed them, then everything went white.

_(3d POV)_

Gaara watched in silence as the blue haired girl broke down. She sunk to her knees and her usually lively face was blank, her piercing lavender eyes were wide, glazed over, and lifeless as she stared at her hands. He watched confused and helpless as he didn't know how to comfort his friend and didn't fully understand why she was acting the way she was. His heart was beating fast, his palms were clammy, and he felt so warm inside. She saved him from death, she saw his as more than a monster, she calmed down the raging beast inside. It was one thing for her to tell Gaara that she would show him love and care, he began to believe her when she was around him, but he finally understood when she stood up for him in front of the people torturing him.

He couldn't even feel the pain inflicted on him because he felt so... happy. At first Gaara knew he wanted to keep her close because she was strong and would be fun to kill, but over time, she wormed her way into his heart. She was his friend and he thought that they could kill everyone and be together forever. He would be more than what Yashamaru made him as. Her plight began to click into place as Gaara listened to her mumbling.

"I killed them. I killed them." Her usually sweet sounding voice whispered in horror. Gaara finally understood. It was her first kill and she was traumatized. He remembered the pain from his first kill and he realized, despite never having killed, she was willing to Kill for him. To kill so he didn't have to kill anymore. Those hidden whispers of murder in his mind finally silenced and he felt as if the veil of hatred over his eyes was lifted. Gaara walked over to Hinata, she was completely silent now. The blank look still remaining. Carefully, he picked her up but she made no reaction to acknowledge his existence. Using his sand, they flew to somewhere safe. The battles were ending and Gaara knew the leaf had won since the sand and sound were retreating. Gaara found the blond boy who radiated sunshine. He and the dark haired boy were standing over his siblings and Baki. All defeated. The emotions he'd been suppressing with hatred came forth and although it was all new and scary, he felt worried.

Naruto and Sasuke looked up from Temari, Baki, and Kankuro and saw a bloodied Gaara carrying Hinata, she looked defeated and like the life was sucked out of her. Gaara was from the sand like those who attacked. Sasuke was nervous, he knew he couldn't last in another fight with Gaara, he had to put his hope in Naruto.

"What the hell did you do to her you bastard. Let her GO!" Naruto yelled out in anger, ready to give another person a Therapy Jutsu beatdown. Gaara lowered his sand to the ground, still unwilling to let go of the girl who saved him. Gaara dismissed Sasuke and walked right towards the blonde. The boy who had the same eyes as himself, the one who he knew would lay down his life to help Hinata.

"Naruto Uzumaki. I am no threat to Hinata. She saved me. I know she saved you too, you are like me. I can see it in your eyes." Naruto looked in Gaara's eyes seeing himself as a lonely young boy. They connected, an unbreakable bond was formed at that moment, he knows why Hinata wanted them to meet now. A friend who was just like him. Against his better judgement, Naruto knew he could trust Gaara. He took a step forward but was stopped by Sasuke who was still hesitant about Gaara. Naruto ignored him and gave Gaara a small friendly smile before averting his gaze to Hinata. She looked so pitiful it was hard to look at. Naruto placed his hand on her cheek but she didn't move at all, it was like she couldn't feel him.

"What. happened." Sasuke asked his Uchiha glare in full force. Gaara looked him in the eye, unflinching.

"She killed them to save me." Sasuke and Naruto froze, their eyes trained on the blank girl. Naruto knew what she was feeling, the pain of killing somebody. He was lucky, he didn't remember killing them, but she was fully aware, she felt every kill. She would feel the guilt, the regret and he knew he'd have to console her the way she did him. Her heart was so big and loving, to kill somebody might break her without the right support. Sasuke was extremely worried, the only time he's ever seen Hinata look so broken was after the massacre when she blamed the deaths of my family on herself. This time though, there is no spark what so ever, she took their lives directly.

The young ninja's had an agreement. Gaara hesitantly handed Hinata off to Naruto, who carried her small tense body with care Sasuke has never seen him exercise. Gaara picked up his siblings with his sand, and after one more glance and the unspoken new friendship with Naruo, he fled. Sasuke ran his hands through his hair before shoving them deeply in his pockets. Together he and Naruto made their way through the trees back to the village. They knew they needed to find Kakashi and Shisui, they were the best options of fixing their teammate.

Naruto dropped Hinata off in the hospital to get her physical injuries healed and hightailed it to find Kakashi-sensei, not ready for the news that is to come. Naruto went to the arena where he last saw Kakahsi, and after a few minutes of searching, he found the silver haired Jonin dragging bodies of enemy ninja into the pile for them to be sent off to the autopsy corps. Naruto could feel the overwhelming aura of sadness filling the air, it was so depressing it made the happy blonde struggle to breathe. Naruto bounded over to Kakashi, dragging him along to the hospital as he informed him of what happened. Kakashi knew it was going to be a difficult few days for everyone, he was worried about telling Naruto Lord Third died, he did not want to have two depressed students and a Sasuke. Kakashi sent a shadow clone to inform Zabuza so that Zabuza can inform her father. Yet another emotional conversation Kakashi did not think he was qualified or mentally stable enough to have.

Sasuke left to his house to find Shisui, praying with every fiber of his being that Shisui was not injured in the mass destruction that the village has gone through. He released a sigh of relief when he made it to his block and there was only minor damage done. Sasuke bust into his home and just by Sasuke mumbling Hinata's name, Shisui took Sasuke and body flickered into the hospital where he was informed of the situation. As a pacifist, Shisui knows the toll a first kill can take on someone, especially someone as people loving as Hinata. She may be violent, but he didn't think she had the heart to kill. He allowed Sasuke to lead him to his precious Imouto's room.

Hiashi and Zabuza were the last to arrive, but the sight was not a pretty one. Hinata was laying in her bed still staring down at her hands looking lifeless. Nothing anyone tried would wake her up, it was as if she was in a trance and no words could break her out of it. Kakashi knew the look well, she was not traumatized for killing those men, she was not scared of anyone but herself. The problem she had was with herself, not with the act of killing somebody else. He knew that look because it was the same one he saw in the mirror every day. He just wanted to know why she was so at odds with herself, he did not like the look in her eyes. It reminded him so much of all the death he has seen, the look of life leaving somebodies eyes. Zabuza knew Hinata was panicking, the first kill always is the hardest whether its for regret or lack thereof and he knew the only way to snap Hinata out of her trance. Tough love was what he could give, he'd wake her up and leave the coddling to someone else. Crying brats will always be gross.

Zabuza walked up to Hinata and raised his hand, they thought he was finally going to show some normal affection with a pat on the head or something but jaws dropped when Zabuza brought his hand down and slapped the blue-haired beauty right across the face. The only sound was the echo of his hand on her face. Kakashi and Hiashi knew the blow up that was to come so each of them grabbed ahold of her teammates, stopping them from attacking Zabuza. Both boys stopped their struggling when they saw Hinata. Her eyes were no longer dull grey, they had the color and life back in them and there were tears streaming down her finally expressive face.

_(Hinata POV)_

The white around me faded as there was a stinging on my face and I felt my head snap sideways. It dawned on me that someone just slapped the shit out of me. It couldn't have come sooner, the white around me was driving me to insanity. All of my thoughts came flooding and water unwillingly fell from my eyes. I'm a monster. I'm a murderer and I feel no regret for it. What kind of horrible person am I. Was I just sent here so that I could realize that I'm not a hero, that I'll never be. Was I sent here to realize how much of a horrible person I am, I mean what kind of hero kills somebody and feels NO regret.

I finally lifted my head from looking at my bloody hands, the hands of a monster. Surrounding me were Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Zabuza, and my dad; each wearing a different expression. Naruto began to coddle me, telling me how it's ok and I'm not a bad person for killing. That the regret will always be there but it will lessen overtime. I kept getting various people telling me to not regret it and that killing doesn't make me a bad person or that they know killing is hard but it's apart of life as a ninja. I finally snapped, done with them trying to make me feel better about the monster I am. Maybe I do belong as a rogue, someone who kills and never looks back.

"Shut up. Just shut the fuck up. Don't try to coddle me or tell me I did the right thing. I know damn well I did the right thing, what I was trained to do. It was us or them and I chose us. Don't try to make me out as a hero either. I'm not a fucking hero, don't you see that I'm a monster. I killed them, I killed all three of them without batting an eyelash. I didn't hesitate, it was easy and I feel no regret what so ever, if it came down to it. I'd kill them again and again. Even with feeling the man's skull crack under my fist or the kunai lodged into the other's brain. I don't regret one second of it. What kind of monster doesn't regret murdering someone." I yelled out at them, hoping that something anything would let them see me for what I am.

Maybe if they hate me, then I can finally accept I will never be a hero. The room was silent, everyone was staring at me with wide eyes. Dad, Zabuza, Shisui, and Sasuke were the first to leave. It was tense and I was waiting for the rest to leave me, leave me like the cold-blooded killer I am. Who did I think I was playing, I wanted to be a hero so bad but when it came down to it, my heart is just not worthy of being one. Something is wrong with me.

"Naruto. Leave." Kakashi stated. Naruto looked between us, a hurt look on his face.

"But B-but K-." He stuttered out. Kakashi kept his eyes locked with me, not looking at Naruto.

"Now." That was an order and Naruto agreed, leaving with his head hanging low. Kakashi moved in silent grace, pulling up a chair next to my bed.

"You think you're a monster is that right? Why you shut down and scared your friends and family." His voice was calm but it had sharp edge in it. I felt compelled by his intensity to converse with him, if anything I wanted to see what he was getting at.

"Yes."

"How did you kill them?"

"The first one I severed his chakra between his lungs and heart. The second I threw a kunai straight through his head. The third one I punched him so hard his skull con-caved beneath my fist. I can still feel it each kill. The feeling won't go away. My hands are covered in their blood." Kakashi held my hands and rubbed circles on my palms while he watched me, his stare unwavering.

"Do you regret killing them?" I sighed, I already told him I didn't regret anything.

"No."

"Did you hesitate?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because they were going to kill Gaara so I stopped them."

"Gaara has killed, why didn't you let him kill them?"

"His sand was wet and would have moved too slow, I didn't want to risk it."

"What if he could have killed them, would you still have reacted the same?"

"Yes."

"Why?" I was getting frustrated by his constant pestering, I know I'm a monster so why is he trying to re-affirm that. I took a minute to try to from my thoughts into words.

"Because Gaara has killed before, he was finally changing and I didn't want him to feel like a monster anymore. I would have still killed them so he didn't have to."

"So you killed them to protect Gaara?"

"Yes."

"And you don't feel remorse?"

"Yes." I growled out.

"Would you feel guilty if you didn't kill them and instead Gaara or yourself got killed?"

"Yes."

"Did you like killing them? Was it enjoyable?"

"No. I hated the feeling of killing them."

"Then why was it so easy?"

"Because I'm a monster."

"No." Kakashi stated firmly.

"Excuse me? What the hell do you mean no. I'm a monster, I killed easily and I don't feel any regret about it."

"Do you think I'm a monster?" Kakashi asked. I gaped at him.

"What, no of course not."

"i've killed, I kill all the time and I do it with no hesitation. I can take my Chidori and crush someone's heart without even blinking. I feel no remorse. So I'll ask you again. Am I a monster?"  
"No, you do it because you are protecting the people you love."

"So did you. You killed to protect Gaara. What about that makes you a monster?" My head was rolling, I was struggling to comprehend how easily Kakashi rationalized my feelings.

"I-. I." I stuttered, trying to voice my thought's. I was stumped. I feel like a monster, but when Kakashi explains it to me, it makes it sound less bad, more like a ninja than a monster.

"From where I stand, you are not a monster, you are now a real Kunoichi. You were trained to kill. You killed for the most honorable reason, to protect your friend. You did not like killing, you hated it. A monster would like the killing. You didn't hesitate because your heart is so full of love, you would do anything to protect the people you care about, your body figured that out faster than your brain did. You feel no remorse because you subconsciously know you did the right thing. You killed for the right reasons and you feel this way now because you at some level feel guilty for killing even if you would do it again. To me, that makes you an outstanding ninja, a true hero." My mouth was wide open, gaping like a fish. Everything I thought about, I was only thinking about pieces of it, putting my fear of not being able to be a hero into my thoughts on killing. Kakashi eased the tension in the room and let out a chuckle. He patted my head with a closed eye smile. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to me, hugging him tightly and mumbling thank you's into his dirty Jonin vest. Kakashi placed his masked lips on my forehead tenderly then did a two finger salute as he flickered away.

Naruto was the first one back in my room and I was tackled into a hug.

"Don't you ever scare me like than Hina-chan. I thought we'd lost you for a second dattebayo. Just because you killed doesn't make you a monster. Remember what you told me, it's only when you enjoy the killing that you become a monster." Naruto said with a smile, his blue eyes boring into my lavender ones. "Oh yeah before I forget, what about that Gaara kid. What's his story?" Naruto's eyes shined in anticipation, so I told him the story of Gaara's oh so wonderful life. At the end, Naruto's fists were clenched, but he had a bright determined smile on his face. "That's it, I'm going to make sure he never feels alone again!" For the first time since my mental break, a small smile graced my lips. Being with Naruto helps me forget all of the dark thoughts threatening to plague my mind, he really is light in the darkness. There is still that voice telling me I'll fail, that I'm not worth being a hero, that my existence here ruined everything for everyone; but with the help of people like Kakashi did today, maybe just maybe it won't take control again.

The next day, the news of Orochimaru killing the Hokage spread throughout the village. He died valiantly in battle, protecting the village he loves until his last breath. Naruto and Shisui were both a mess. I pushed away the sadness as much as I could to be strong for them. They both knew Lord Third so well, he was family to them, he cared for them without a doubt and I had to be strong, be their shoulder to cry on for once.

I spent time with my friends and family for the days preceding the funeral, but no matter what, I couldn't stop feeling the death. I could still see the blood on my hands. Sleeping at night, my dreams were filled with murder. My hands crushing skulls, destroying chakra networks without remorse. I'd wake up each night in a cold sweat, my hands covered in blood that wouldn't come off. I'd see myself kill over and over until it would drive me mad. The worst was I could still barely walk and so there was nothing I could do to get my mind off of it, all I could do was stare into nothingness.

The first two weeks after the attack were tense. Everyone was in mourning after the loss of the Hokage and the village was in disarray trying to figure out who the next Hokage is going to be. Not having a Kage makes the village weak, and especially after an attack, the village is more susceptible to be taken over and/or destroyed. There were meetings held that my dad and Kakashi had to attend to determine the Hokage. Although I haven't met Jiraiya yet, I know he was there too. While they were doing that, I was stuck in physical therapy in the Hospital. My hip was fully healed, but from the lack of use it was weak and so I had to do muscle movements to make sure the tendons would work properly and so the bone wouldn't come out of place. It wasn't the worst, but it definitely wasn't fun being stuck in the boring and gross hospital.

I would have never made it through if I didn't have visitors. Surprisingly Kiba visited me the most, him and Akamaru came to most of my lessons and egged me on to keep me more determined to heal faster; mainly to end his constant shit talking. Shino usually tagged along with Kiba as a silent moral support. Whenever it would hurt or I'd fall down, Shino would catch me and make me keep going. Whenever I wasn't in PT, Naruto or Neji was there to take care of me. I was never hungry thanks to the abundance of ramen from Naruto and vegetable based meals from Neji. Since my dad was gone most of the time, Hanabi stayed alternating between Neji and Lady Seiko. I stayed with Sasuke and Shisui and they took me to the hospital every day. Zabuza would come in to check on me, but because of the village turmoil, he was assisting TI with any of the captured ninja and spent time with his precious Anko. Surprisingly, Gaara and I became pen pals. It started when he sent me a letter that read:

_Hinata,_

_I would like to thank you. I left you and I am worried on how you are feeling after killing those men for me. I sincerely apologize for the fact that you had to protect me, next time I will protect you. I will not understand why you care so much, but my gratitude knows no bounds. You changed me, took me from a lonely monster and made me want to become a good person. It is difficult and I still do not comprehend many things people do. Maybe one day you will come to visit me and help me understand feeling. I have also written to Naruto Uzumaki, he is like me, he has my eyes. I believe he and I have formed what you call a bond of friendship. You and Naruto both speak so highly of your dreams and I think I have finally decided on a dream to honor you and to redeem myself. My dream is to become Kazekage. You gave me a purpose and I vow that I will be there whenever you ask of me._

_Best wishes my dear Hinata,_

_Gaara._

It was so sweet, some of the darkness I felt plaguing me was lightened by his letter. He and I write to each other every day, him telling me of new experiences and unknown feelings, along with his bond with his siblings and training to become Kazekage for his people. He writes like a sweet and innocent prince, such a contrast from the Gaara I first met. I write him about anything and everything to keep him updated and just because I like to imagine his relations to my crazy stories. I promised him I'd visit and would make him laugh. From what I can tell, Naruto is even more excited to write to Gaara. He gets so cute and giddy every time Gaara sends him a new letter. They really have formed a friendship and I couldn't be more happy.

It was the day before Naruto told me I was going to meet Jiraiya, apparently aside from being Naruto's homie, I peaked his interest based off my performance in the Chunin exams. My hip was almost fully healed and I was walking through the crumbled village to get back to my house so I could hang out with Hanabi for a little bit. The familiar mutter of "What a drag" came from one of the only restaurants not needing to be rebuilt. A big smile lit up my face, it's been so long since I've seen Shika and Choji. I ran inside the restaurant and found Shika, Choji, and Ino enjoying some Bakudan and Onigiri. My heart began beating erratically, afraid of seeing Ino after going off on her. I didn't want to deal with more of her incessant torment of my failure as a woman. I slowed to a stop and turned around as inconspicuously as I could but just like in a fucking movie, Shikamaru noticed me.

"Hinata?" I slowly turned back around, a sheepish smile on my face. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, staring directly into my soul. I knew I couldn't hide anything from him, he always knew exactly what I was thinking even before I did. His eyes went back to his normal state and flickered to Ino in understanding. Ino put her head down a bit, avoiding my eye contact which was weird, she has never been the timid type. Choji took a break from eating and chatting with Ino to smile and wave at me.

"Hey Hinata-chan. Long time no see, are you going to come eat with us? Shikamaru-kun has been complaining about not seeing you." Shikamaru punched Choji and I stifled a laugh, most of the tension was dissipating finally.

"Ahh, I was just coming to say hi." I cursed my awkwardness. How can I talk so big to Orochi-freaking-maru but when I come face to face with Ino, not pissed off, I act like a timid, awkward little girl. I gave Shika and Choji hugs and turned to leave, but something grabbed my wrist. I thought it was Shika but the hand was well manicured and had slender fingers. I looked up to see Ino's blue eyes staring into mine, sadness and determination were all I could make out. The shyness she had earlier was totally gone and back was the confident blonde. Without waiting for my response, she dragged me behind her, pulling us into the girls bathroom. She stomped her foot and ordered everyone out of the bathroom, they all obediently listened, not wanting to upset the privileged Yamanaka heiress. I stood awkwardly looking at the floor, I don't know what she wants but I don't know if I can handle any more of her mind games. She's a mind specialist, not only is she a girl, she can manipulate and know someones thoughts faster than anyone else. She knows exactly what to say to get the reaction she wants. I've never been weak willed, but somehow they make me feel so weak, worthless, a failure in just minutes. All I wanted was to have girl friends, to experience girl talk but we don't have that, instead it's malice between us. the only time I can seem to stand up to them is when they badmouth Naruto or someone else I love.

"Hinata." Ino spoke, her voice was firm but had a slight quiver. It did not hold the normal hiss. Her hand went from my wrist to my shoulder and I looked up to watch her. Her face was blank, attempting to hold back a flurry of emotions. It was dead silent as we awkwardly stared at each other, I was trying not to move my gaze around since her's was locked on mine. I shifted the weight between my feet, slightly rocking back and forth when Ino finally opened her mouth again. "I- you." She took a deep breath. "You were right." I almost choked right then and there. My eyes went comically wide and my mouth fell open. Ino NEVER admits someone else is right, the question is about what.

"A-About what exactly?"

"Everything." I looked at her with an arched brow silently asking her to elaborate. She got the message and continued. "Naruto. Choji finally told me some of Naruto's story. I was wrong, he's not a monster, he was just trying to protect everyone. And from what I've seen, he may be strong but he's still a loud goofy idiot." My heart was beating faster and I let out a quiet giggle. I was happy, I still don't know why she's telling me this, but to know that she doesn't see Naruto as a monster. "And you were right about us not giving up our friendship over Sasuke-kun. I see how weak I am compared to all of you, I spent so much time trying to break you and to earn affections from a hot boy who will never love me. It was during the exams, when I saw you beaten so badly that I realized how miserable I was. How much I missed you, my dorky, tomboy, freakishly strong, weird, smart, beautiful best friend." Tears were falling from both of our eyes and Ino pulled me into a hug. "Please forgive me. I need you back, I don't want to be mean anymore." I was hesitant, I wanted so badly to push her away, to beat her up for all the hurt she caused me, but I couldn't. She seemed so sincere, she could be faking but at this moment I didn't care. She was Ino, she realized how stupid her infatuation with Sasuke was, she apologized. It is naive and stupid, but I wrapped my arms around her and we sat giggling and crying like freaks. After a bit, I wiped my tears, Ino fixed her makeup and we walked out of the bathroom like we weren't mortal enemies a few hours earlier.

"Thank Kami, I don't know how much more of Shikamaru I could handle alone." I laughed loudly and agreed, the person who hates trouble is so troublesome. **(A/N this scene was hard to write because I'm emotionally awkward and don't hang out with enough girls to know how this works.)**

Shikamaru looked between us, then slumped over, not wanting to know what was going on. He knew we'd tell him later. Choji on the other hand was beaming with happiness that Ino and I finally made up. After lunch, Ino kicked the boys to the curb and she decided it was long overdue for us to catch up and have a girls day. We first went shopping and after much begging and pleading, I gave in and bought some non-ninja clothes. It was nothing too fancy, I got a short black and red dress that was like a giant t-shirt but cinched at my waistline. I also got a new blue floral short kimono since none of mine fit anymore and there is a festival coming up soon that I said I'd wear it to. The clan elders would be so happy to see me in something that wasn't my ninja clothes or pants, they always tell my dad that I have earned my title through my skills, but I need to still work on my visual image as a princess since the elders love to tell me how I'm too pretty to dress so lame. If I was the son of the clan, they would not care as much, as long as I look presentable but as a female, I not only have to be physically strong, they want me to look the part of a princess.

Second, we went to the bath houses to clean up. The water was warm and felt so nice on my tense muscles. In there, Ino told me about how much harder she has been pushing herself in training. She has successfully learned her clan mind techniques and is going to be starting an apprenticeship under her dad and Ibiki in the TI department, she knows her mind manipulation skills will be honed and put to good use. It's going to be intense, but she is tough as nails and will thrive with that training. Together if we went on an information gathering mission, we'd be so good. With my training under Lady Seiko on the art of using womanly charms to get information, Ino's amazing mind manipulation skills, plus good old fashioned infiltration, we'd be an unstoppable Kunoichi team. Pretty but deadly. We chatted about Sakura and her's relationship issues, Sakura is still not willing to get over the issue of Sasuke and still dislikes me. I just hope some sense gets knocked into her pink head so she can flourish and become a non-annoying person and flourish as a genjutsu master Kunoichi. Apparently, Ino got over Sasuke because she realized she only liked him for his looks and something she wont tell me about changed her mind on who is the person for her. I know she likes someone by the blushes when she talks about getting over Sasuke, but she won't say who.

After bathing at the hot springs, I allowed her, against my better judgement, to cut my hair. My hair was long and past my butt so she cut it into layers that fell at my hips and gave me side sweeping bangs. It was beautiful, made my hair a but lighter, and it looked so freaking awesome. I usually forget what it's like to hang out with girls, other than Tenten who likes to train with me, and it was a nice change to relax for once and just be a girl. I slept over at Ino's and couldn't stop the big grin from covering my face as I fell asleep.

Ino woke me up with water to my face. I should have been pissed, I really should have, but I was too giddy. I finally get to meet THE Jiraiya, super pervert ninja extraordinaire. I haven't met him, but he is one of the coolest people ever. He is a perfect example of an Idiot who looks weak but is so crazy badass. Plus he trained some of the greatest ninjas to ever live, and he know's Tsunade, another person I cant wait to meet and I am going to make her train me. Loudmouth and Hothead, we will be awesome. I put on a fishnet shirt and threw on a red cropped top over it. I put on my black joggers and sandals. Ino did my hair for me, making it look effortlessly wavy with her magic. She headed off to the TI area and I hauled ass over to Ichiraku's. Of course, Naruto was already inside slurping down his ramen while waving his hands around dramatically telling a story to the person beside him. I'm pretty sure my eyes were sparkling, there sat Jiraiya in all of his glory, grinning at Naruto's story while not so subtly checking out the women in the shop. His hair was long and withe, tied off in a low ponytail. Up close, he looked really buff for a man in his 50's and the red lines on his face were super awesome looking.

I ran inside Ichiraku's, gaining the attention of everyone in the place. Ayame realized it was me and went to work on my miso ramen, my ramen of choice. Naruto's blue eyes widened in happiness and he smiled brighter than the sun itself. Jiraiya watched his apprentices actions and chortled whole heartedly.

"Hina-chan you finally showed up. Your hair is different dattebayo! Now you can finally meet my new super strong but really weird teacher Pevy Sage. Pervy Sage, this is Hina-chan, don't you even think about perving on her old man." Naruto spoke rushed, his excitement flowing through every word. I laughed out loud at the disgruntled expression Jiraiya was throwing Naruto for his less than amazing introduction of him.

"You brat, I told you not to call me that in front of people." They were so energetic. I ran up to Jiraiya and bowed before looking up at him with awed, sparkling eyes.

"Oh My Kami, I finally get to meet one of the Legendary Sanin, the toad Sage Jiraiya. Aghhh I'm such a huge fan! Naru has told me so much, I have so many questions. Like, what was your favorite Icha Icha book to write? What was it like training the 4th Hokage? This is sooooo cool." Naruto and Jiraiya both looked at me in pure shock, Naruto had a mix of horror too. A loud booming laugh echoed throughout the shop and a large hand was placed on my head, ruffling my hair. Jiraiya had a large grin on his face and he gave Naruto a look of victory.

"I like you kid, you know when a legend is in your presence and you're the first Hyuuga clan member I've met that doesn't have a stick lodged up their ass. I have to say, for all the rumors about your skills, you look more like a princess than a fighter, you're sure to be a looker when your older. I like all my Icha Icha, but the first one is my favorite. The research for that one was particularly invigorating. Hohoho. Training the 4th was rewarding. Naruto, you've got a good girl here, you better not mess it up." He answered all my questions, boasting about himself, yet somehow staying humble by not mentioning his actual skills. A misdirection that is useful as a ninja, especially one that has so many ties in the underground. For such a pervert and clumsy dude, Jiraiya is scarily smart and good at controlling a situation while making you think nothing of it. He uses his boisterous ways to his advantage in a way that I've never seen. He truly is a legend, and not just because he is a huge pervert. Each jab he made at Naruto, I could see the hidden fondness behind it. And with Naruto's loud insults back, it was pretty obvious he was enjoying his time with Jiraiya, feeling that sense of parental guidance he never has had before.

After a subtle shift executed by Jiraiya, we began talking about training. He first asked me about why and how I decided to train with Naruto when we were younger, and why I thought it was a good idea to let him figure out sealing. I responded with how I read about the Uzumaki being a clan known for seals and thought Naruto would be naturally adept at it because of his lineage. I don't think Jiraiya was all too suspicious of me, but he was interrogating me in such a discreet and friendly way, if I wasn't prepared, I would have never figured it out. I discreetly slipped in subtle messages about things I knew, but they were only for my amusement, I don't think he could figure out what I really meant by them. It really was a fun battle of wits and wagers between us, a friendly battle only I knew I was in. I also told him a bit about my skills, which Naruto seemed to amp up every time I glossed over them. Jiraiya told me I was a prodigy, not hiding his nervousness for that since the prodigies he knew were all super fucked up. I said the only reason I am seen as so is because I trained hard which seemed to gain some respect in his eyes. When I talked about my water ninjutsu and akin to Tsunade strength, he was impressed, saying that the spreading rumors of me (and my team overall for being so freaking OP at 12/13 like Itachi and Kakashi were) had an air of truth. I also think he must have heard something about maybe the accident with Orochimaru and his and Kabuto's newfound interest in me. That was what he was trying to figure out, and I now know for sure something is up regarding me and the snake. I still am in the dark to know what which scares the living shit out of me.

I asked if I'd ever get to meet Tsunade and he said it is a high possibility right now, I fist pumped in delight. It was a fun meal, I liked Jiraiya and he found my perverted jokes funny and I didn't get slapped in the head like I would if it were Neji or anyone else. He really is soo cool and I basically fangirled over him even though I wanted to seem cool. Jiraiya told me that he and Naruto would be leaving and so Jiraiya left Naruto and I to say our goodbye's. Naruto grabbed my hand and we walked to the front gate together, laughing the whole way there as he told me some of his plans to beat Sasuke. Naruto pulled me into a tight hug and blushed brightly. I hugged him back, my head in his neck.

"Good luck on finding Tsunade! Though, I'll come find you and castrate you if you don't come back home safe." Naruto shuddered and let out a weak laugh at the sickly sweet whisper I gave him knowing my threat was all too real.

"Yatta! I promise I'll come back and I'll be even stronger dattebayo!" He grinned and put his fist out as a promise. "I'll be Hokage in no time dattebayo!" He yelled, making my worries float away. I want to go with him, but I know I can't. I have to be here to talk with Itachi and shark boy, I have no idea what I should say, but the best method of life is to roll with the punches and thats what I'm going to do. How I'm going to try to therapy jutsu a group of criminals without becoming one I don't know but I sure as hell am going to try. I pulled Naruto into one more bone crushing hug and before I could let go, he held on to me tighter. We stayed like that for a minute, this is his first time really leaving without me and vice versa so it is pretty hard to say bye, for a month-sh amount of time, to my best friend whose been there forever. I had him let go and pushed myself up a bit and gave him a soft and quick kiss on the cheek. His whole face turned pink and he had a dazed and goofy smile spreading across his whiskered face.

Jiraiya showed up and gave Naruto a not-so-subtle wink and they left. I watched his back until I couldn't see him anymore. I know he will be fine, but I'm still worried I mean his heart stopped last time and maybe this time it wont start back up. Also, with Kabuto losing a leg, I don't know how that will effect everything. I snapped out of my stupor when there was a loud bang that echoed off in the distance. My head snapped to the direction the sound originated and there was a plume of smoke billowing in the air. What. The. Hell. I took off at top speed, jumping through the trees to find out what is going on. The village cannot handle another attack and this amount of attention does not fit with Itachi's style, Naruto is gone so it's not one of his seal tests so who or what the hell is causing this. I came to a stop hanging from a tree and when I saw what was happening, I fell out of the tree.

_Panda-kun,_

_I'm doing just dandy, I kind of freaked out after killing them, but Kakashi-sensei helped me see the situation in full. Please never apologize for being alive, I would have saved you over and over and the only reason I was able to was because you saved me first. I care for you because you deserve it, and like I said when we met the first time, I will always be there to show you what friendship and love is. I want to come visit you so bad, it would be so cool to see Suna especially now that you are going to be Kazekage. I mean, nobody would better suit the job than you would. I expect you to take me to all of your favorite spots so I can learn more about you. I totally knew you and Naruto would become friends and start your Jinchuriki bromance, hopefully we can come and see you, it will have to wait until Naruto gets back to the village though. Tell your siblings I say hi and no hard feelings. Well, unless Kankuro decides to be a jerk again, then I'll punch him. But otherwise, tell them Hi and i'd like to meet them on good terms sometime._

_Love,_

_Hinata_


	12. Interrogation: No trust in the Village

Yes, I fucking fell out of the tree like some kind of clumsy dumbass. The attention of everyone in the makeshift battlefield shifted to me and I stood up, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly while chuckling.

"That wasn't quite the entrance I was going for but Ta-Daa." I did the jazz hands and everyone sweat dropped.

"Danna, is this really the same girl that fought that grey haired guy un? She seems like an idiot yeah." I glared at Deidara, who gave me a smirk in return. Damn it, he's a bad guy but he's so freaking hotttt. His hair is shorter than in Shippuden, probably because he's 16 now. He has his scope on but it shines like fresh metal still so he probably has only made it recently meaning he's relatively new to the Akatsuki still. He couldn't have been in it for more than 6 months. That means Hidan has just joined or is still not apart of the Akatsuki since he is the last member to join.

Kakashi narrowed his eye, sternly looking at me daring me to go against what he was going to say next.

"Hinata get out of here, let us handle this. You don't know who they are and what they can do, you are strong but this battle is out of your league." All hints of my goofy nature were gone when I finally looked at the scene. This is not looking good. Deidara was above ground on one of his clay birds and Sasori was in Hiruko, with a few puppets surrounding him. Asuma was holding Kurenai in his arms, she was out cold and from the burns littering her skin and clothes, she had to have tried to Genjutsu Deidara, and since he has a burning hatred for genjustu, with the skill to counteract it, curtsey of Itachi, that didn't bode well for her. Kakashi was standing in front of them with his Sharingan ablaze but he was sweating and there was a slight scratch on his bicep. Sasori must have gotten a hit and since all of his weapons are poisoned, Kakashi needs medical attention ASAP. Deidara barked out a booming laugh, his blue eye full of amusement. A smirk graced his features and he flew closer to the ground, hovering closer to Sasori.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Danna un? This is getting fun, yeah."

"For once brat, I agree." Sasori's voice was just as amused as Deidara. We all looked confused between them, what the hell are they so entertained by. Kakashi was sweating more and I could tell it was getting harder and harder for him to keep up his defensive stance. I need to do something quick but I don't know what to do to not get everyone killed. You know what, fuck it I'm going to so regret what I do next but YOLT(You only live twice).

"You're wrong Kakashi. I know exactly who the Akatsuki is and who these two are. You are the one that needs to leave, the poison in your system is most definitely lethal if you don't get help." His eye widened in shock but he shook his head to say he's going to keep fighting. Asuma let out a strangled cough of surprise. I turned my gaze to the rogue ninja's, my eyes narrowing dangerously. I want to help them, but I will not let them hurt my friends like this. I need to get the attention off of them so Kakashi can get help. "Sasori, Deidara. You're here for Naruto, but tough shit he's long gone from here and I know how much you hate waiting so leave now and save yourself the displeasure." A deep raspy chuckle left from Sasori, his Hiruko puppet mouth rattling along to make the sound even more creepy.

"You really are an interesting girl, you seem to hold so much knowledge that would benefit your village and yet you keep it quiet, even your Sensei doesn't know. For the matters of the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, I had assumed that there was a chance he would leave with the Toad Sanin so we planned for a second team to intercept them if that happened. I stay now for you, I wanted to see if Kabuto was correct in bringing you to my attention. A young leaf village princess who not only has great physical skill, she knows things that nobody else has ever figured out. From my knowledge, you have only left the village once so tell me how you know so much and I promise to make your sensei's die a quick death and turn them into true art. As you know, I don't like waiting. Tick tock." His voice was gruff and amused but it held no kindness.

"Danna, I will turn them into my art hmm. True art is fleeting, True art is a bang. I will blow Kakashi of the Sharingan into the most beautiful of art yeah.

"Shut up you insolent brat. True art is eternal, everlasting beauty." I stood straight up and just watched them confused. Like what the hell, they are arguing in the middle of a battle about ART. It's true that the stronger they are the weirder they are. Cough-Naruto and Hashirama-cough.

"Usually I'd love to join you in your argument about your convoluted views on 'true art' I'm in a pretty foul mood. I was hoping to speak to Itachi but you two had to ruin that. Instead of threatening me with people I hold dear, think this through. You kill them, I will kill you. You try to kill me, Kakashi will kill you. I know information you want and information you need kept secret but if you make the wrong decision, you'll never find out what I know. I have safety precautions. If you kill me or anyone I love, every secret about you and the other 8 Akatsuki members is released to the 5 Kage. You're strong but you cannot take down all 5 major villages if they have a common enemy. You're rational thinkers, well Sasori is, so make the smart decision and leave." I tried to sound firm and believable but I was shaking in my boots.

I don't know if I could kill them, actually I know I can't kill them, I'm not arrogant enough to think I could. Not only are they crazy strong but I really want to help them. I also pulled that bluff out of my ass, I have no safety precautions and from what I just said, I'm probably going to be sent to TI for all of the information I magically have. All I know is that I fucked up the first time I said anything to Kabuto and if I want to keep Kakashi alive, I need to keep playing the game I set myself up for. I can't back and pretend to know nothing so I have to milk what I do know and use it to my advantage. Being friends with Ino, a master manipulator, has its perks but if they call my bluff, we're screwed and something really bad will happen.

"You mock my art un! You stupid girl, I'll blow you to the heavens and show you true what true art is. I'll make you into a masterpiece hmm." Deidara yelled at me, his face red with rage. I really pissed him off, note to self, boy with bombs does not allow anyone other than Sasori say something even the slightest bit negative about is art. Kakashi jumped in front of me, halfway shielding me from them. The glare he sent me sent shivers down my spine, I know we will be having such an unpleasant talk later. If I learned how to shut my mouth once and awhile we wouldn't be in this predicament.

"Don't say another word, if you try to lay a hand on any of my students you will die a most unpleasant death Akatsuki scum."

"Danna, let me show them my art un." Deidara called, reaching his hands in the bags of clay and a crazed smile on his face. Sasori waved his scorpion tail and Deidara frowned. Sasori is signing something to him by just the flick of his tail. They can speak just by Sasori moving his tail in seemingly random patterns. "Danna, ugh fine." Sasori hopped on Deidara's bird and I tensed for a fight.

"Until next time girl." Deidara and Sasori flew higher and shot away at impressive speeds. Kakashi, Asuma, and I let out sighs of relief but Kakashi collapsed and went face up in the water. The poison finally got the better of him. I flashed in front of him and enhanced my muscles with Chakra so that I could carry Kakashi to the hospital. Asuma left taking Kurenai back to her house and I ran the direction of the Hospital. When I entered, doctors came running at me. Kakashi was rushed away and I was told to go home because Kakashi won't be out of the poison removal for a good day, and he probably won't wake up for longer. I left with the plan to come back and check on him in the morning when he gets moved into his intensive care room.

* * *

Since Ino took up most of my time yesterday, I feel like I should see Shika. It's been a while since we've really had time to just hang out because all the craziness life has bestowed upon us. I took my normal route to Shikamaru's house, picking up some Mackerel cooked in Miso and some Sukonbu (his favorite foods) for us to eat while we play Shoji or something. I walked up to the door and was greeted by Yoshino Nara. Like usual, she squeezed me to death, 20 questioned me about life, made me blush from compliments, insulted Shika and her husband, then told me where Shika was. I walked down the long hallway and instead of knocking like a normal person, I slid open his door, set the Sukonbu down so I couldn't ruin my dinner and jumped on the bed, crushing him underneath me.

"Ah Shit. Hinata what the hell, get off of me. Damn woman, I was sleeping." He groaned out in extreme irritation while trying to push me off but failing because he was putting no real effort. I rolled off him and we laid on our sides facing one another, his face was bored and mine had a happy smile on it.

"Shikaa don't be like that. I know you miss me as much as I miss you so get your lazy ass up. It's been sooooo long since we've hung out and I get my ass kicked in Shoji." I whined out dramatically, trying not to laugh the whole time. His face morphed into a cocky smirk and I knew I had him hooked, just like other boys stroke their ego a bit and boom, instant party.

"Troublesome. I don't know if I want to beat you again, I could just sleep, that might be more fun." He drawled out playing my game back at me, he knew I would get fired up at his mention of him being so much better than me now-a-days. I jumped at him, getting all rolled up in the blankets so I couldn't move. "Good, now stay quiet and sleep." He cuddled up against me.

"I brought Mackerel and Sukonbu but you can only have it if you get up and do something with me. Today's the day I beat you again. I feel it." One of his eyes lazily opened and stared at me, the mention of his favorite food was sure enough the right tool to get his full attention. He rolled his eyes and released a big sigh, slowly sitting up. He smirked at my helplessness since I was still trapped in the blankets and was struggling to get out. "Stop smirking and get me out of this." I demanded and he just chuckled mumbling about how troublesome I am. Thankfully, he helped me out of the blankets by pulling on an end and sending me rolling out of the cocoon and onto the floor. I hopped up and grabbed the food, leading Shika to the Shoji room.

We sat across each other, a piece of Sukonbu hanging from my lips as I stared intensely at the board between us. I was sitting on my knees like a proper lady, the pose just feels natural after so much time sitting in it as a kid. Shikamaru was very slowly pulling ahead and even thinking 15 moves ahead, I was at a loss. I knew I would have his queen in the next few moves, but I was too late in realizing his strategy and I played right into his hand allowing him to set up my inevitable loss in the next 60 or so moves. I knew I was going to lose, but the amount of moves it took depended on me and I damn well am going to go down in a blaze of glory. My eyes met Shikamaru's calculating one's and he knew I knew that I was trapped. He smiled at me knowing it would piss me off more, damn it I really thought I had him this time. I pouted but continued playing the game to its finish.

We laid outside at the edge of the Nara forest staring up at the setting sun. Moving into the familiar pose we had done since we met, I was nestled into his side my head supported by one of his arms.

* * *

_(Shikamaru POV) _(I feel like he's been needing some love as of late)

Hinata laid on my arm, a position we had decided was perfect when we were young. I could feel her body heat and felt at peace. Her eyes were trained on the sky, the sunset reflected back in her large lavender eyes. She was beautiful and she was with me. She helped calm the millions of thoughts running through my mind every minute. I traced patterns into her skin with my free hand while she rambled on aimlessly for the most part. She talked so uncouth and even when she was speaking in the most inappropriate manner her voice still sounded sweet and innocent. It amused me to no end when she talked: she looked and sounded like a princess but she spoke like a sailor and talked a lot about everything.

She could come across as an idiot but she was undeniably smart when she put her mind to it and she never ceased to amaze me when she spoke. She was kind but not ignorantly so and she was stronger than anyone else I've ever met. She looked at the world in a different light than anyone else and acts as her own person, not held back by the confines of the village or her clan. I wanted a simple life with no excitement and nothing special but Hinata came along and broke all of those rules. She's my best friend alongside Choji. She is everything but simple, she is the most troublesome woman to ever walk this earth but I would not have it any other way.

Hinata is beautiful, only an idiot would say otherwise, but she doesn't flaunt her beauty at all. She is so far from a lady yet when she needs to, she is a perfect one. Her mind is sharp and she can match me in conversations so I don't have to simplify things or use extra wording to get her to understand something. She's a hothead and loves to fight whether it be verbally or physically but she also is so loving to her close friends. I know every emotion she expresses and actions she is going to take, but I can never really figure out what goes on in her mind, she's a puzzle I want to solve. As troublesome as it is being around her wild life, I want to always be apart of it. I know Sasuke and Naruto are in love with her, that Gaara kid too, but thats not my issue, competing for a girl that may not like any of us is too much effort. I can see myself loving her maybe, but thats too much effort to even think about at 12. I'm not stupid and I know one day I will love her, even if she is the most troublesome woman in my life.

She's strong and determined, she's sometimes like Naruto in that respect. She even made me more determined to succeed as long as it's not too troublesome. Her and Choji are so kind, I have to be the real one for them. I know physically I'm not the strongest, but my mind is the best like my father and I will use that to be strong. Strong enough to protect my kind friends from the evils of the world. Until that day comes, I can just enjoy her being in my arms and the brightness she brings.

The sky was filled with stars and the air got cooler. She shivered a bit and curled closer into my body for a bit of warmth, I know she would push away as soon as she got hot, but I held her close against my chest for now as we pointed out constellations and she informed me of her adventures of meeting the pervert Legendary Sanin. After a but more of her story, and her avoiding telling me something that happened, her words slurred then stopped. I looked back down and any signs of the tenseness she held was replaced with peace. Yet another reason sleep is the best thing ever, all stress just melts away into dreams. I picked her up and brought her inside, my troublesome mother somehow knew she would fall asleep and prepared a futon for me to sleep on so she could have my bed. I unhooked her ninja gear and left for my mom to dress her in my old pajamas. I flopped down onto my futon and drifted into the unadulterated bliss of sleep.

* * *

(_Hinata POV_)

I signed into the Hospital right as visiting hours opened and was being led to Kakashi's room. The nurse informed me that Kakashi was still out cold but he was going to be fine. The poison was heavily toxic but focused more on bodily torture than actual death. It must have taken everything Kakashi had to keep standing and not yell out in pain. I know I couldn't have been as strong as he was if I had to deal with the type of pain he was said to endure. Even through all of that pain, he was still willing to fight for me. I stopped in front of room 62 and my heart was beating like crazy. I was nervous to see him, he's out now but when he wakes up I'm nervous of what he is going to do.

I let Kabuto know what I needed him to know. I needed his attention to gain that of Sasori, if I could get enough interest from them now it would make either crushing them or saving them easier in the long run...but I didn't count on Kakashi finding out. I really fucked it up with that one. What if they think I'm a traitor, how am I supposed to explain how I came across the information I have. I really might be screwed either way, this might be the death of me. And to top it all off, if I had said something, maybe Kakashi wouldn't be in the hospital and have endured all the pain he did. Also, the freaking Akatsuki knows that I know something, I want to save Itachi and whoever else I can, but getting on their radar this way might not work in my favor.

I took in a deep breath and let myself into the room. Kakashi was laying on the hospital bed. His headband was off and his hair was wildly sprawled out across his forehead and pillow. It would have been cute if he wasn't shaking and pale. I sat in the chair beside him and held one of his big hands in mine. I know he's ok but I don't like seeing him like this. Without him I'd still be spiraling downward, he saved me not only from the bad guys but from myself. It's my fault Sasori was there and he got poisoned. If I had kept my mouth shut and followed my plans better

Kakashi wouldn't have had to fight Sasori, he wouldn't have had to endure the physical torture of his poison. I don't know what is worse, the mental torture Itachi would have given or the physical torture Sasori gave. I stayed with Kakashi all day, never letting go of his hand. He was my sensei, someone who protected me and cared about me and I got him hurt. That won't happen again, I won't let people get hurt because of me. Kakashi didn't wake up and I was booted out of the Hospital at closing. I spent the night sleeping with Hanabi since dad was still out on a month long mission. Sasuke and Shisui were still gone, Shisui was on a training spree with Sasuke preparing him better in his role for what we have planned.

After an intense training session I returned to Kakashi's side. I spent the next few days like this, training and being in the hospital. I wrote letters to Gaara, Visited Lee who was still recovering from his loss to Gaara, and waited for Kakashi to wake up. The interrogation was coming and I had to prepare myself to dig out of the giant fucking crater I put myself in. I was also anxiously awaiting Naruto's arrival. With Kabuto on the rocks after losing a leg, I was very interested to hear what happened with finding Tsunade and knowing Naruto he would tell me everything in full detail. As long as it dealt with him being awesome of course.

On the 4th day after Kakashi's 'surgery', he woke up. I was sitting writing a letter to Gaara when he groaned. I dropped everything and was by his side with a water in hand. I handed it to him and turned around as he took great effort to drink it. There was a long silence, the air was so tense and I was nervously playing with my fingers waiting for him to say something. Kakashi wouldn't blow up, as much as I wish he would but I knew his anger was there. He was pissed but like always he held it back and was just silently watching me with an infuriated grey eye and red Sharingan.

_Panda-kun,_

_How are you doing? How is training to become the Kazekage? How are your siblings, is Kankuro still a goth boy who wears makeup? Since you asked, my favorite color is probably red, I want to know your's too. I'm really happy to know you have meded the trust with your remaining family and calmed down Shukaku. I hope one day you guys can bond and you can enjoy sleep and experience good dreams. I know the villagers are still distrustful but I don't want you to get discouraged because they will soon see you for what you are and love you as much as I do. Naruto is still off on his mission to find the 5th Hokage and I'm so excited to meet her. I also messed up really bad and might be in some deep shit so if I die, you can have all of my clothes, purple would be such a pretty color on you. Ok, so I might not die but I will be interrogated or something so thats going to be so much fun, yay me! I hung out with Shikamaru, you know the lazy ass who can use shadows, and got beat in Shogi again. _

_Love,_

_The only person who would call you a Panda._

* * *

Kakashi and I were staring at each other, both of his eyes narrowed onto my form. He was studying me and he was pissed. There were no words spoken and the air was tense. I was doing my best not to quiver away from his gaze, I knew I fucked up and it's time to face the music. After what felt like forever, Kakashi closed both of his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and exhaled deeply.

"Hinata..." Right as he began to speak, the door was slammed open and a ball of orange came tumbling into the room. The tense air slightly dissipated at the sight of the blonde on the floor. He popped up, totally not reading the situation, and had a huge grin on his face.

"Kakashi-sensei Hina-chan. You'll never guess that the 5th Hokage is some angry old Lady that uses jutsu to look younger dattebayo. She's as strong as you Hina-chan.I brought her back to fully heal you and busy brows Kakashi sensei."

"Maa. Is that so." Kakashi said with no hint of the previous seriousness in his voice. I thanked Naruto for postponing my death for a bit.

"I knew you could do it Naru!" He smiled even brighter and crushed me in a hug laughing in joy. There were footsteps and Kakashi said something to a female voice. I pushed Naruto off of me and sparkles began to form around me. Tsunade was standing right in front of me. She was sooooo pretty, her hair her eyes, her face. Her makeup was so pretty and I felt inferior to her, especially in the chest range. Her boobs were HUGE like how is she even standing up straight.

"Hina-chan don't tell me you're going to freak out like you did with Pervy Sage." I shot him a quick glare and turned back to Tsunade who looked equally amused and concerned at Naruto's statement.

"Agh you're Tsunade Senju, the Slug Queen. You're so cool, I mean like you're so strong and pretty and so so cool. I modeled some of my fighting style off of you, you're like one of my idols along with Jiraiya-sama. This is awesome that you are Hokage, finally a girl is showing up all of the boys. How are you so pretty? Did you use a jutsu to make your boobs bigger or something, they are huge? What was it like teaming up with someone like Jiraiya? Can you teach me medical ninjutsu so I can be a combat ninja? Why do you have a pet pig?" The words tumbled out of my mouth again as I was still awed by another one of the Sanin that thankfully wasn't out to kill me... yet. Lady Tsunade put her hand over my mouth but she held no malice.

"I like you, you talk too much but you know how to flatter me. Are you Hinata Hyuuga?" I nodded. "Good. Meet me in my office with Kakashi in 1 hour." She walked out with Naruto trailing behind her to show her to Lee. Kakashi was already up and dressed when I turned back around and by the way he was eying me, my meeting with the Hokage was going to be something to be slightly concerned about.

* * *

I was standing in Tsunade's new office shaking in my shoes. Kakashi had a hand on my shoulder not in a comforting manner but in a way of 'you cant run even if you wanted to' while Tsunade was staring at me, all of the pleasantness gone. Jiraiya was also in the office, he was the most scary of the three. His goofy demeanor was gone and replaced by a man hardened by war; he looked ready to take me down if needed. The power coming off of them was overwhelming slightly and I wanted to cower in fear. Instead, I let their eyes bore into me and I stood strong. If I want to be a hero, a savior, I cannot let myself fall to weakness like this.

"Hinata I'm sure you know what this meeting is about. Kakashi informed me of what happened when you encountered two S-ranked missing ninja from the group Akatsuki. What you do and say here will seal your fate with the leaf village. You _will _tell the truth even if we have to force it out of you. Is that clear?" Tsunade's voice was firm and forceful, scary. I clenched my fist and prepared myself.

"Yes." Kakashi's grip tightened a bit.

"Hinata, Sasori talked as though he knew you, and you said you knew him. You knew a lot about him, that is not the main issue. You knew enough about him to make him feel the need to find you. He said you knew more information on him and the group Akatsuki, which is supposed to be unknown to anyone in the village other than Master Jiraiya and a few special Jonin. You knew there were 10 members of the Akatsuki and from the meeting you probably know each member and their skills. Was this the first time you have met Sasori? Who else from the Akatsuki have you been in contact with? How do you know about any of this information? Why haven't you told anyone about what you know? Are you a spy against your own village? Who else knows what you know?" Kakashi fired each question off, his voice was stern and low. It was threatening but I could tell he wanted to think the best. He was pissed, at me yes, but I also think it was because I never told him. I took a deep breath and thought through each question and the best way to answer them.

"You wont believe me even if I tell you." Jiraiya practically growled at me.

"You being Naruto's friend does nothing for me. I do not trust you and you tell us the truth right now or I will personally show you why I am feared across nations."

"I don't really now how to explain this. Dammit I fucked up so bad." I took a deep breath prepared to tell the biggest secret I've ever had. "I wasn't born here. At least the first time I was born." They all gave me disbelieving looks but were silent so I continued. "I was born in a different world than this one. A different body too. I know so much about everyone here because you guys weren't real. You were a Manga, a comic book of sorts. Everyone existed, even a different version of me, well Hinata. It was called Naruto, focusing on Naruto as the protagonist. I was a huge nerd and I learned everything and more that there was to learn about Naruto. I know so much about each person in this world and for the basics I knew the future up until I saved Zabuza and the Chunin Exams started. That is when everything got fucked up and I don't know what will happen next. I changed so much being here the way I am but I couldn't help it. I fell in love with everyone and the story so when I was about the same age as I am now and was murdered saving some little girl and re-born here, I became determined to make everything better for as many people as I could. My first life wasn't as glamorous as this one is. There was no Chakra, no powers, everyone was as normal as a civilian. The only heroes we had were in the forms of comics and Manga. I was an orphan and had nobody to take care of me. I was totally alone, people made fun of me left and right and I never got adopted for being the weird girl who was more into comics than real life. So, when I had the opportunity to change things for the better here, I took it. I finally had a family, people who would love me; I wasn't totally alone anymore. I had friends, a purpose of living past the point of just existing. I no longer had to want to kill myself just to escape, I could finally become the hero I read so much about. Everyone called me a prodigy, but I was lucky to have my memories of my past life. I felt like I was at a disadvantage, everyone had a purpose and most had a good outcome, but I didn't. I didn't belong so I trained and trained to make myself belong. I planned on keeping my knowledge a secret, especially after I changed so much but when Kabuto came around. I was angry at what he becomes, I lost control for a second and said things that I shouldn't have. That alerted him to my knowledge that I shouldn't have. Same with Orochimaru. I kept this a secret because everyone wold think I'm fucking crazy or exploit me for power, but that didn't work so well I guess. I can't tell you guys too much about anything because I honestly have no clue to what will happen anymore, and I can't tell you too much about the Akatsuki because I believe some of them are just broken and are in need of saving. They weren't born as monsters, the world made them it and I want to fix that. To give them better lives than they were dealt the first time around, just like I was."

I was pouring out tears at the end of my speech. I never wanted to tell anyone about my life, I hated to remember it. Life sucked and everyday it became harder and harder to survive and the only thing keeping me going was the imaginary world of heroes I. And now I had to fuck up the real life I had been given, I was going to lose everything I grew to love because I couldn't keep my mouth shut. I worked so hard to earn my place, to feel like I wasn't just impeding and being somewhere I didn't belong. I made friends and family and have a life worth living even if it is harsh but now that might all be gone because I couldn't keep my existence a secret.

I collapsed to my knees still crying, I hated crying yet I couldn't stop. Nobody said anything they all just stared at me as I cried. Even if they did say something, I don't know if I would be able to hear it. Kakashi knelt down and picked me up like a fragile doll. His eyes had a far away look to them, but he was holding me protectively. All of the anger and distrust he held for me was gone and replaced with sorrow. Inoichi walked into the room and before I had the chance to think, I was knocked out and they delved into my mind.

When I came back to, they were all talking seriously. All sense of distrust was gone from everyone and the room was now filled with a sense of confusion and sorrow. Kakashi was still holding me, his jaw clenched tightly. I moved a bit and all eyes were on me. Tsunade spoke up first.

"Inoichi-san confirmed your story by showing us some of your memories without showing us ourselves, that would possibly mess up too much of our futures. We have come to an agreement and for the sake of my village and the world, this information cannot be told to anyone EVER. I will monitor you as my duty as Hokage. If you earn it, I will train you like you asked. But that is only if you prove yourself to me." She stopped talking giving room for Jiraiya to talk.

"You have had a massive burden placed on your shoulders as such a young girl and you have handled it better than I could. I do not understand your desire to protect those in the Akatsuki and if it needs to happen, I will take them out, but for your sake, we will give you a chance at whatever you are planning. Your life in both worlds has been difficult and you have grown up to be so strong against the adversities. I am putting my faith in you so do not make me regret it brat." Jiraiya had a large smile on his face and he ruffled my hair. Most of the weight on my shoulders had been lifted and I felt weightless if it weren't for the silent Kakashi holding me with shaking hands.

"Kakashi, Hinata you are dismissed." Kakashi didn't release me and body flickered us into his house.

"Mah, what am I going to do with you. I really was blessed with the curse of team 7." Kakashi said to lighten the mood, his or mine I'm not sure. "As your sensei it is my job to be there for you. You were carrying the world on your shoulders and you should have asked for help. I vowed to protect my comrades and and your sensei this is something I'm obliged to help you with." Kakashi was holding me tightly in a comforting grip as he spoke, a contrast to his normally distant touch.

"I know but you know why I didn't say anything." He nodded and gave me a closed eye smile.

"That being said, I am proud of you. You have the knowledge people would kill for, you placed so much pressure on yourself and instead of being corrupt, you have become strong and reliable. A true ninja." My face broke out into a grin and I jumped off Kakashi fist pumping the air. "Maa, you said something about Zabuza and your changes. Since they are over and done with, tell me some of the things you changed."

"Oh yeah, Zabuza was supposed to die along with Haku, that's why I was so disappointed I didn't save Haku. I wasn't supposed to be on Team 7, Sakura Haruno was. Sasuke was a dick and hated everyone and everything, going rogue with Orochimaru. Shisui was supposed to commit suicide. Neji was supposed to be a bigger prick than he is now. And you, as cool as you are, were hella terrible sensei in the teaching sense." Kakashi gasped and ruffled my hair.

"You are so mean telling me I am a terrible sensei."

"Was." He waved his hand nonchalantly brushing it off.

"You really changed a lot, you are crazy. Sakura Haruno huh. I can't imagine that team dynamic working. Most girls like her are more interested in boys than actual training."

"True, that's why I changed it and joined your team." Kakashi let out a deep chuckle and I spent the day telling him stories of things that don't have an affect now of the past timeline. He listened only to input some snark or commentary here and there. I decided Kakashi doesn't try to be funny, he is just a dick with a nonchalant and slightly awkward personality and it is hilarious. We left after a while to get food, picking up Naruto, Zabuza, Sasuke, and Shisui for an outing to Ichiraku. That night I was called back to Tsunade's office and Neji, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Shino were there. She promoted each of us to Chunin and I was shocked. (A/N Shino is a fucking baller and deservs to be chunin. He's undefeated remember! So yes he's a Chunin.)She seemed to not trust me a few hours ago but now I'm trustworthy enough to become a Chunin? I was pretty disappointed Naruto wasn't made Chunin too, but I guess it is one of those things set in stone for him to become the first Genin Hokage. Everyone left but me to go celebrate.

"Tsunade-sama, thank you for this but why? You were so untrusting of me earlier and it doesn't make sense to promote me like this." She pulled out a bottle of Sake and had a hearty laugh.

"That's true but after watching your past and knowing everything you know but not doing evil with it shows your character. People would kill for your knowledge but you chose to not exploit it and do something good with it. You also have many people I trust that speak highly of you skill and character wise. Those are the characteristics of a Leaf Ninja and you are deserving of the title. I will still keep my eye on you, but the high praise from Zabuza and Kakashi, I think you will be someone worthwhile of my training. Plus I can skip all of the lessons on Taijutsu and focus heavily on your medical ninjutsu, especially if you want to be a skilled combatant with medical skills to boot... every team needs a field medic and you'd do well with it." In her speech she had already downed 5 shots of Sake. "Lesson 1, never say no to me. Sit and have a drink."

"Fuck yeah." She poured me a glass, ignoring that I'm 12 and I had a shot. It was horrible and burned my throat but she enjoyed it and was happy that I agreed, even if it's because she's drunk. I thought I had fucked myself over, I still am not in the clear especially with Orochimaru's unwanted attention and unknown plans, but letting out a secret to the most trustworthy people ever was a bit of a relief and I felt lighter than ever before.

I've been waiting to learn mystic palm, I have always planned on being a combat specialist, a frontline fighter, but there were things that happened and are going to happen that if I don't know how to heal anything, I will have harmed the timeline more than I will do it good. Maybe I can find a way to save Itachi from his sickness or going blind, maybe I'll figure out how to help Shisui's eyes, people are going to get hurt and if I can heal them as well as I can kill them I will be doing what I've set out to do. The idea of having the skill to heal a comrade when bleeding but not ever doing anything with it sickens me, I won't let someone die just because I was trying to limit myself into only being a combatant. If that was true then there would be no reason for me to take Sakura's place.

I had a meeting with the clan elders to inform them of my becoming a Chunin and they were extremely pleased. I went through hours of tedious training in the grooming of me being the clan head. Some of it involved the issues of marriage which I ignored, but they did say that I would need to start picking a suitable male to run the clan with me at his side. They also told me there are some marriages they would like to arrange, but I shut those down real quick. No way in hell am I having an arranged marriage with some stupid boy who will just provide me children and money, and no way in hell for a clan marriage.

They said Hanabi had already agreed to marriage, not with anyone yet but the idea of it for the clan, because she is a romantic and believes whoever she marries will be a prince and dreams of her wedding and has since a baby. I love her for it and promise to pride her a fairy tail the best I can, but that is not for me right now. I also have been getting more obligations to show my face as the princess of a noble clan at events. I didn't know being from a noble clan meant so much, but it does. An event I cannot miss is from the Feudal Lord of the Ice Kingdom. It is a very westernized area and I am supposed to go to meet his son and keep the alliance between them and our clan. It is a ball of sorts and I have to go with the guards of my choice.

I ducked out of the meeting as soon as possible and since Hinata was having a sleepover with another kid from the clan, I decided to sleep over at Kiba's since Shino said he'd be there too.

Spending the night with them was pretty eventful, insults were thrown and Shino had to yet again play mediator. I did, possibly, learn some useful information about Kiba though. When I would piss him off, Shino would physically hold Kiba down to stop his frontal attacks; every time Shino placed his hands on Kiba, he blushed. Yes, he fucking blushed. At first I thought that Kiba was just red in anger, but the slight longing look he held for Shino spoke volumes, and guess what, it was freaking ADORABLE. I honestly could never tell what team Kiba played for, he was as manly and prideful as they come, but he never ever talked about crushing on anyone, especially not a girl. SO when he finally revealed it, even if he didn't mean to, I felt closer to him.

I mean like hell yeah, Kiba is totally my way cooler version of a Gay Best Friend. Shino might be more asexual than Sasuke, but if he has romantic feelings, I wouldn't be surprised if he had them for Kiba. Other than me, Kiba is one of the only people who doesn't see Shino as a freak or invisible. He also banters with Kiba a lot, throwing in the wittiest, yet 100 percent honest replies to some of the insane things Kiba says or does. They could be the greatest power couple ever.

_Dear Hinata-chan,_

_I am fine. Training to become the Kazekage is difficult but I know I am getting stronger. Kankuro and Temari are doing well they thank you for asking. Kankuro does wear face paint but I do not know what goth is. I do not have a favorite color, maybe you can help me pick one. Shukaku is less violent and maybe one day we can bond so he is less angry. I believe he needs to meet you and Naruto Uzumaki to see kindness like I have. The villagers are beginning to fear me less because I do not harm them anymore. Has Naruto Uzumaki returned, I would like to send him another letter? I will make sure you do not die so if you need me I will come to the village and provide you safety. I shall buy something purple to wear when you come if you believe it will look pleasing. I would like to play Shoji with you one day when you come visit. Tell me, is there anything new you have experienced? I learned experienced getting new clothes recently because I have grown. I would like to know your favorite food and drink._

_Goodbye,_

_Gaara._

A/N yes I made Kiba and Shino gay because why the fuck not. Sorry if it offends you but I think it's cute. Although Kiba was my first love in the show h's gay now. Idk Why I did that...but it's happening and I guess nobody can change it.


	13. Friendship A true necessity

The first day of training as her new apprentice Lady Tsunade asked me why I wanted to learn medical ninjutsu. I told her about how if I could fight as well as I can but also be able to heal people as good as she can, I would be even more capable of protecting those I care about. Not only will I be able to fight for them, I can heal them when needed and knowing Naruto, Zabuza, and Sasuke that is a necessity for me. She seemed pleased with my answer and allowed me to study under her.

I was in Tsunade's office training like I have been for the month of her being my Sensei alongside Kakashi. Medical training isn't strenuous per-say, but it is extremely difficult. It takes an extremely precise amount of chakra control to produce the mystic palm technique. First I have ti bring some of my chakra into my hands, that part is easy, the hard part is pulling out my elemental and combatant chakra from my hands and then it leaves pure chakra that can be used to heal. My elemental affinity for water is so strong that trying to completely remove it from my hands is extremely difficult. I can convert my chakra from water to lightning but taking out the element completely is almost as difficult as it was to unlock my chakra coils. I learned the hard way that when you don't fully pull out the elemental chakra to perform mystic palm the results are terrible. I practice on fish for the most part and because I struggle so much with taking out my elemental chakra, when I am trying to heal the fish, it seeps back in sometimes and even the smallest amount makes the fish explode. Tsunade is brutal and instead of letting me shower off the fish guts I keep covering myself in, she makes me sit in the guts and practice. She thinks it's a good motivator for me to learn the technique faster.

Today I managed to keep the mystical palm technique working for a solid 3 minutes before the green glow flickered back into blue. The best thing was it made so much more sense on chakra scalpels now, they are blue because it is the same precision as mystic palm takes, to fine tune chakra into sharp thin blades around your hands, but they have all of the elemental chakra still in them so they can do damage. That part is a bit easier for me. Right now, I'm sitting covered in guts and smell like a damn sewer.

Healing something is not just inserting the healing chakra into someone's blood stream, it is a lot more difficult. For cuts and external wounds, I have to insert my chakra into the body and have it connect with their chakra, then I have to push it all to the wound and Imagine the chakra acting as a needle, stitching the cut closed with chakra. Healing Internal wounds is similar and thankfully with my Byakugan I can see the internal issues that I wouldn't be able to see else wise. Broken bones takes a lot more chakra and time and there is only so much I can do to heal them. I have to use my chakra molded with theirs to push the bone back in place and use the chakra as a slight splint to weld the bone in place while I actually cast it until it can meld itself back together over a week or two. My struggle is not being able to hold my technique long enough to do any actual healing, hence the constant exploding fish.

I managed to heal the first layer of the fish's gash when Kakashi waltzed in the room, jumping in from the window. My chakra became unstable and the fish exploded. He let out a chuckle and so I threw some of the guts on him, ignoring his annoyed protest.

"Maa you smell terrible Hinata. What happened." He gave me a closed eye smile and I glowered at him.

"Hatake, You're late. Again."

"You see, there was a fish drowning and I had to give it CPR." He said so seriously that I laughed in amusement. Tsunade didn't find it as funny as I did so she punched the wall, threatening Kakashi to be late again. We both paled slightly at her temper.

"Hinata, you have been working diligently and from the recommendations of Kakashi Hatake, Zabuza Momochi, Hiashi Hyuuga, Shisui Uchiha, and the Late Hiruzen Sarutobi. You are being permitted to take the Jonin Exams this next week to earn yourself the title of a Jonin. This test will take the Chunin exams look like child's play, do you think you are ready?"

"Wholly Shit. No fucking way, Hell yeah I'm ready. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Kakashi slapped my head for my foul language and Tsunade just laughed, her mouth isn't very clean either.

"Maa Maa, after you clean yourself you can train with me and then you have 5 days off until the exams. Ja ne." Kakashi gave a two finger salute and poofed out of existence.

"That brat." Tsunade sighed. She called in Shizune to bring her more Sake and after a slightly headed argument, Shizune submitted to bringing Tsunade her precious mind numbing alcohol. "Your clan sent me the mission request. Which little brats would you like to bring as your guards?"

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. Uhh, I know Zabuza should go and I think Neji and Sasuke would be the best options to help blend in somewhere so regal, Nobody else could pull off the princely act." Neji and Sasuke already have the ego's of a prince and knowing their skills in acting high-and-mighty, they are the perfect two to take with me. Especially since I need Sasuke to pose as my date, it will be just like dance class with his mom when we were younger. Zabuza and the clan wouldn't be too happy if I didn't bring him along since he is my guard of sorts. I also haven't seen him in a while since he's been out on missions with _Anko _for a while. I know Naruto and Kiba will be pissed I didn't bring them, but such a formal event that probably involves dancing and manners, I can barely do them no way in hell would my wild besties be able to survive it without drawing bad attention to ourselves.

"You will brief them on the mission details. Bring me more Sake and Dango then you are dismissed to train with Hatake."

"Hai." I ran to the nearest Dango shop and got Tsunade her items while shifting uncomfortably with all the grossed out stares I was getting for being covered in smelly rotten fish. I made it to the bath house since it was closer than my own home and bathed myself clean, it took 4 rounds of soap and scalding water to get the smell off of myself. I put on some clean training gear and jogged over to training ground 7 a few hours later than the time specified. Surprise surprise I was still earlier than Kakashi even if it only was by a few minutes. Kakashi went harder on the three of us than usual. He had his Sharingan activated and was sending attack after attack for us to dodge or counter. It was difficult to even land a scratch on him sometimes. Training ended when Naruto, Sasuke, and I each managed to land 3 heavy blows on him without the use of any of our Kekkei Genki. That was a blast but I ended up shutting off the chakra to his arm at one point so it flopped uselessly which was well worth it, it was hilarious. After training, Kakashi took Naruto to get some foods for his fridge, nobody would dare disrespect Naruto and not let him get groceries with cold blooded Kakashi on his side. That left Sasuke and I alone.

"Hey, Duckbutt."

"Hn."

"You have a mission with Neji and Zabuza. I have to go to some ball thingie and I am supposed to have guards so I picked you to help." He smirked smugly. "Don't go getting your ego stroked, you were the best option because you already act like a prince with your high-and-mighty attitude."

"Hn. Asshole."

"Yeah Yeah whatever. You are going to act as my date, Neji is going to be my butler of sorts oh how I know he'll hate that, and Zabuza is the obvious choice as a guard. Sound good?" Sasuke's face morphed into one of greater smugness than usual and I knew he was going to say something that was going to make me want to punch him in his pretty face.

"Freak, this just sounds like an elaborate plan to get me to date you. Fangirls usually go far, but this is a new level, you are trying to pay to get me to go out with you." My mouth dropped open and I just blinked so stunned that he even said that. His smirk turned into a smug smile that quickly fell when he looked in my eyes. He turned to run but I was to quick and tackled him to the ground putting him in a chokehold.

"Damn it duckbutt you are such a fucking cocky bastard! I already know you like Naruto, you're my only option as a date for this thing; nobody else could cut it. I liked it better when you shut your fucking mouth and only said Hn."

"I DON'T LIKE THAT DOBE!" He got himself out of my weak chokehold and was chuckling but it was kind of dark. My shock and anger faded and I lost it so I ran from him while trying not to laugh. Sometimes I forgot how funny he is, it was a flashback to the times before life went to hell. He grabbed me like a sack of potatoes and walked us home. I completely missed the slight blush and happy smile on his face from the idea of going out with me.

Sasuke dropped me off at home and I immediately ran into dads office. I slowed to a stop and knocked on the door so he knew I was coming in.

"Ohayo Otousan. Guess what!" I was practically glowing and the quick glance he gave me made him stop his work and stare at me. He raised one eyebrow silently asking me to continue and also threatening that if it's worthless he would be annoyed with me for interrupting his work. "I am aloud to take the Jonin exams, I had more than 1 recommendation so Lady Tsunade is allowing it! I'm so excited. I'll be tied with Kakashi-sensei for the youngest Jonin if this works out!" Dad had a tiny smirk and his eyes brightened a bit in proudness. He had no surprise, probably because he recommended me but I know he is proud that it worked out and I am moving up in the ranks so fast. I ran and jumped over the table tackling him in a hug, he was stiff and huffed in annoyance but allowed the hug anyways. "Thank you for believing in me." I mumbled into his chest, still smiling like a dope. He patted my back and removed me, his hands firmly planted on my shoulders

"Daughter, you have earned my respect through your hard work. You are worthy of being a Jonin of the leaf and to carry on the Hyuuga legacy." He said it with little inflection in his voice but the pride he held for me was apparent. That was one of the nicest things he has ever said and done for me, he might be a stiff but he is my dad and I wouldn't want anyone else. To have earned his respect after all these years of working for it means the world to me. I look up to him and his skill so much so this is a huge moment for us, for him to fully acknowledge me not only as his daughter and the successor to the clan, but as a ninja worthy as the title of a Jonin. To have earned that from him is one of the biggest honors I could ever receive from my father.

"I love you Otousan."

"Hai, me too." He gave me one last pat on the head then kicked me out of his office to rest and study up academically for the Jonin exams. I went to the library and piled a bag full of scrolls that I thought I would need and brought all the healthy nonperishable foods I could into my room to become a hermit and have a study party for myself. I haven't told anyone about the exams, Kakashi or Shikaku might tell them but I'm hoping he doesn't. I want to surprise them after the exams and tell them if I become a Jonin.

—

Dad woke me up this morning and he had everything prepared for me. My clothes were laid out, my ninja pouches were filled with weapons and food, and he had a light high-protein breakfast laid out for me to eat before the exams. It was a small act, but coming from him it was special, it was his way of being there for me today. Hanabi-hime gave me a special ribbon to tie in my hair for good luck and I had her tie it in. I was excited but extremely nervous because I knew I would be the youngest and smallest there. I was representing my clan and all the people who believed in me so I had to prove myself. I may be young but I've worked so hard to get myself here, I'm not going to fail now. Zabuza was home from his mission today so he picked me up and took me to the exam that was a half a day travel from the village. He was making comments the whole time to freak me out like the sadistic guy he is.

I opened the exam doors after dropping off my paperwork and was met with 25 Chunin from our allied villages (I did notice the lack of Sand Chunin since the invasion) all 17 or older. Their eyes locked onto mine and there were different feelings passing through each of them. By the look in most of their eyes, they were underestimating me. One guy from the Kusagakure (**A/N it's a real village that is presumed to be allies with Konoha)** with electric blue hair and equally blue eyes stood up and pointed at me. He had an aura about him that Immediately made me know he's a cocky dick to the extreme. He led out a loud mocking laugh.

"Awe little bitch did you lose your mommy. This is for future Jonin not weak little girls like you. I knew the Leaf was a bitch village but this is something else, are they mocking us now?" A few people nodded along with him but all eyes were on me. My eyes narrowed and my fists were clenched. The mention of my mom set me off and I wanted to kick his ass. "Awe did I strike a nerve. Why don't you run back home crying to your mommy like the little wimp you are. Future Jonin my ass." He sneered. Instead of crying, I smirked at him and put my hand on my hip, embracing my inner bitchy Neji, ready to call him out.

"You're all bark and no bite. You run your mouth off acting like some macho man to compensate for your fragile ego. You're just trying to cover up that you're terrified of getting your ass kicked by everyone else here, especially a _little bitch_ like me. Oh look now you're shaking in anger because you just called out by someone years younger than you." His face turned even more red and he looked ready to blow. Most of the people around us were snickering at his misfortune of picking on the wrong _little _girl. He got ready to jump at me but one of the Chunin from his same village pulled him down to make him shut up. A girl in her mid to late 20's and a guy who was around 19, both from Yugakure, **(Where Hidan is from)** flashed in front of me. The girl had short black hair shaved on the sides and vibrant violet eyes, the boy had shaggy lavender hair and deep green eyes. The girl was tall and intimidating and seemed to scream strength. The boy seemed to be goofy like Naruto, but his movements did nothing to hide the swift manner he walked.

"That was pretty ballsy what you did back there. You put a target on your back and being the youngest one here could be detrimental to you. I like it." He laughed out and gave me a genuine smile. He has no clue who I am but I have a feeling having him as an ally right now would be a good idea, plus he seems like a fun person.

"You taught that pussy his place, stupid but cool. You're a young one and look fragile but I'm cool with that. The names Katsumi Date the idiot beside me is Yukimura Kirishima. I like you and you need allies, what do you say?" She stuck her hand out, she insulted and complimented me, she's a straightforward kind of person. I like her, she seems fun. I shook her hand, gripping hers as tightly as she was gripping mine. Her stature towered over me, but I returned the smirk she gave me with a grin.

"Hyuuga, Hinata Hyuuga." I almost squealed in happiness at absolute awesomeness I felt introducing myself like James Bond. It was a dream come true. Katsumi muttered under her breath, "Hyuuga huh." Yukimura threw his arm over my shoulder and led me over to where they were sitting.

"Ignore the looks of all the other creeps, with me by your side you're bound to succeed. I'm the great Yukimura Kirishima swordsman extraordinaire." I laughed but by the twin swords on his back and the lack of people arguing his statement, it must be true. "Alright little Hime" I groaned at the nickname but allowed him to continue. "Tell us your strengths and weaknesses and we'll tell you ours. That way when we fight the others, we can have better strategies planned up by scary Kat over there." He jerked his thumb at Katsumi and she rolled her eyes. By their interactions, they seem to know each other pretty well.

"My Taijutsu and water Ninjutsu are basically second to none. I can use lightning ninjutsu but usually only conjoined with water. My strategies are good, usually come on the fly but they seem to work in the short term. My Genjutsu skills and use of Kunai and Shuriken are barely average." They both smirked at my confidence and Yukimura laughed at my dejected sigh at my weaponry failures.

"Sounds good little hime, from what I've heard from another leaf Chunin, your strength in Taijutsu is scary so that will be good for us. I am a self proclaimed master swordsman worthy to one day fight one of the seven swordsman. My speed and agility is amazingly awesome and my other weaponry skills are pretty perfect too. I can release Genjutsu with no problem and can use fire ninjutsu. I'm not great strategy wise and my strength is not the best." We turned to Katsumi for her answers.

"My Genjutsus will make the biggest of men shit their pants and my earth style ninjutsu is good. I can strategize on the fly and outthink most of the other losers here. My speed is average and I'm more of a distance fighter so my Taijutsu is not the best." We nodded in approval at one anothers skills and began to from plans when a man entered the room. Everyone silenced immediately and he passed us out a written test. There were no gimmicks, it was just to test out intelligence. It was extremely difficult but not impossible and after a few hours all of us finished. Only 3 people gut cut at this stage of the exams. The nest stage was the TI part of the exams.

As a Jonin it is important to keep secret information secret so this test was letting chosen members of TI try to get information out of us. I was given a secret word that only I knew and was locked into a room to have someone try to get the word out of me. They had free reign, within reason of course, to do whatever needed to get the secret out of me for the next 2 hours. A woman with blood red lips that were curled up in a menacing smirk and eyes excited for the investigation sauntered her way into the room. She sat me on a leather chair and chained my arms and legs tightly. Her cold grey eyes stared into mine and when I didn't flinch her smirk turned into a feral grin because she was excited for the prospect of breaking the information out of me.

"So you're the young leaf ninja I've heard about." She scratched a long nail along my cheek, slightly drawing blood. She licked it up happily. "I can't wait to see what you're made of." She circled me like prey and after a few looks, she took one more lick of my blood and backed off. She kept her eyes trained on mine and made a few hand signs. I tried to take in a breath but it felt like someone was suffocating me. This went on for forever and every time I was about to pass out, I was able to take in a few breaths. Each time I was aloud to breathe she would ask me if the secret and every time I refused, I was suffocated again. Whatever jutsu she was using was extremely scary. When she realized I wouldn't give in, I was able to breathe again.

The walls around me began to warp and black goop was pouring down the walls. Creepy monsters formed from the tar and were screeching as they surrounded me. I kept trying to get away from them but I was still chained down as they touched me and scratched along my body. I wanted to scream in terror after my sight was going black by the amount of monsters around me, I was broken out of my fear when the proctors voice echoed through the monsters asking for the secret word. I grit my teeth through the uncomfortable and horrific feelings and shook my head no. Her laugh echoed the room and the monsters faded, I was staring back at her.

"You're good little girl, times almost up and I want to break you so bad." She licked her lips and my vision shifted back to my childhood. It was the scene of when my mom died, she was covered in blood and calling out to me, begging for help while I was stuck to the chair and couldn't do anything. She pleaded with me to tell the proctor the secret word and that if I did she would live. I wanted it so bad, it felt so real. Having my mom back is one of the things I wanted the most for myself but I knew it was unrealistic. Every plea got to me though and I opened my mouth to speak, but I saw the slight silver edging of the room. I've seen it before. I focused more on that, trying to remember where I've seen it before. It helped me block out the cries of my mom which were growing louder by the second. It dawned on me that this has to be a type of extremely strong mental manipulation Genjutsu, a variant of normal Genjutsu that is stronger and more realistic. The scene faded back to normal and I was staring into the cold eyes of the proctor with unconscious tears from the horrible vision still streaming down my face.

"You passed this part of the exam, I'm surprised you didn't crack when I showed you a variant of your most horrible memory. I enjoyed watching you cry little girl. Good luck!" Her voice said full of sadistic amusement. I was released from the chains and led out of the room into a room with 12 people. Thankfully Katsumi and Yukimura were there; sadly the blue haired dude was there too. I was greeted with a punch to the shoulder and a hug.

They announced that the third part of the exam was a battle Royale, we would compete in teams of 3 with at least 1 being from a different village to test our skills and cooperative abilities. The final team standing will compete against each other and be made Jonin if they are impressive enough. Katsumi, Yukimura, and I signed up as partners. The final battle Royale went perfectly and we were the last team standing. It took over a full day of nonstop fighting to win but it was worth it. Katsumi and Yukimura were extremely talented and I'm glad they were my allies now and in the future thanks to the bond we made beating up people and each other. Together we took out the blue bastard, I got to give him the finishing punch, knocking him out when he was punched into a 30 inch thick concrete wall. We fought well and were hopefully impressive enough to make Jonin. The leaders of our villages would be the ones to decide the outcome. I was battered and thoroughly bruised by the end of the battles and had to have Zabuza carry me because my legs stopped working correctly. All I wanted was to sleep in a nice bed for like a week straight. Zabuza didn't want to spend money so he put me on his back and carried my sleeping body the entire way home and letting me sleep in his apartment.

—

I was kneeling before Lady Tsunade the morning after I woke up from my 3 day sleep. Today was my off day but she made me come in anyways. She had 2 Sake cups on her desk and the fanciest bottle of Sake in between them.

"Hinata Hyuuga after your exceptional show at the Jonin exams, it is on recommendation of your proctors and my own opinion that I am making you a Jonin of the Village Hidden In the Leaves effective immediately. You are young so I will not have you command a team, you are still under the jurisdiction of myself and Kakashi Hatake and teammates of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. Congratulations, now since you are a Jonin, you can enjoy some of the better Sake with your master." She poured me a cup and grabbed the bottle for herself I took the shot and she drank down a few gulps, the pink blush forming on her cheeks almost instantly from the fast acting alcohol. I was jumping around her office like a dork fist pumping the air and screaming "Fuck Yes" over and over.

"Now don't think because you are a Jonin your training will become easier. The exact opposite can be said for me, I will push you harder than before so that I don't have to worry about you on the more difficult missions you are going to go on. I already worry about Naruto, I'm not going to want to add you onto that list."

"Hai, I'm ready to learn everything you can teach me!"

"Good, now leave my sight and go celebrate with your friends, they have been bugging me to know where you are." I ran out of her office to tell everyone the awesome news. When the clan elders find out they are going to be so happy but they can shove that up their ass since it's not for them like they think it is. I told my dad and Hanabi first, thanking them for the support. I know without my dad, I would have never made it this far. I told Zabuza next who was not surprised. Kakashi gave me a fond head pat and a sarcastic quip about me taking over as sensei for him so he can read his porn more often. Shikamaru and Choji were happy but not surprised since Shika figured out where I was from talking with his dad. Ino was proud of me and we got out nails done together in celebration. She's also planning a party now in honor of it even when I tried to beg her not to. Kiba was slightly pissed and threw a big fuss about it, but I knew he was secretly happy for me. Shino said it was a no brainer that I made Jonin since my skills were already at that level. Sasuke was super jealous but played it off saying it was all a fluke like the Tsundere he is. He also shocked me pretty badly with his lightning for not telling him where I was for over a week. He loves me though, so he finally gave in and let me hug him for a job well done. He may be a cold bastard sometimes but his hugs are something everyone needs to experience. Naruto was so happy for me, pissed that he's a Genin, but over the moon for me. We went for ramen and he gave me a kiss on the cheek in repayment of mine and as congratulations. He like Sasuke was super pissed I didn't tell him where I was and yelled at me for worrying him. It was sweet and I couldn't have asked for anything better. Neji knew about it already but was still proud of me for becoming a Jonin and being the youngest female Jonin in Konoha history. Tenten was super happy for me too and as a congratulations we went to the bath house and got to relax there for a day. It was extremely nice on both of our sore muscles, her from Gai and mine form still recovering from the intensity of the exams. Lee was overjoyed for me and gave me such nice hugs and cheers for it. He's finally back on his feet and promised to give me 1000 pushups as a gift. It was a sweet sentiment and I was still awed by his strength and work ethic, which made him glow with joy when I told him that.

_Gaara._

_Dear Future Kazekage,_

_I'm glad your'e doing good! I worry about you sometimes and wish I could be there to support you more than I can in letters. You need someone to give you more hugs and head pats and I can't do that in Konoha. I'll explain what goth is when I visit which I think I am coming soon. I have so much to tell you about in person and so many questions I need you to answer for me. I would love to help you find a favorite color I already have a few in mind of what I think you would like. Keep working with the raccoon Shukaku, he'll come around someday, you are just as amazing as Naruto so don't worry about that. I'm glad the village is seeing you more for the wonderful person you are, I want everyone to see you the way I do and I know they will someday soon. Thank you for providing me safety when I need it, you really are my knight in shining armor. Sorry it's taken so long to respond I've been really busy and haven't spoken to anyone because of the Jonin exams. Guess what, I became a Jonin and am the youngest female Jonin the leaf has ever had. Having support like the kind I get from you and all my other loved ones has been a big part of me being able to succeed the way I have. Thats still nothing compared to becoming Kazekage, but it is something that I am proud of. I wanna play Shoji and other games too! I'm glad you got new clothes, what do they look like? My favorite food is any kind of Yakitori and my favorite drink is orange juice. What are your favorite food and drink? Also what is your favorite dessert? And what is your favorite childhood memory?_

_Love,_

_Hinata_

Ino threw a party, it started out as a celebration for my becoming a Jonin but when I mentioned that I had missed Sasuke's birthday like the asshole I am, she allowed me to change the party into one for him. Sasuke is even less likely to go to a party with other kids than Shikamaru and that's saying something huge because parties are loud and troublesome to the point it hinders Shikamaru's sleeping. We all know he doesn't like that. So the operation was to make it a surprise party which is extremely difficult for someone like Sasuke. He acts like he doesn't give a shit about a lot of things, that they are beneath him especially when it comes to people outside his small inner circle. In reality, he is a nosy motherfucker and has a burning desire to know everything that is going on in my, Shisui's and Naruto's lives so I knew he was itching to find out what was going on with Ino and I. He didn't like that I wouldn't tell him. Because of that, I had Naruto and Shisui distract Sasuke more than usual, sparring battle after battle. Even Kakashi and Zabuza got in on the gig.

Sasuke and Shikamaru have clashing personalities, not in the obvious sense like Naruot and him, just that Shikamaru doesn't like how arrogant Sasuke is and Sasuke doesn't like how smart yet lazy Shikamaru is. They will never be friends but they don't fight like other people who dislike each other do. I think they put in an effort when I'm around solely because Naruto and I are friends with both of them. As much as this party is for Sasuke, he needs more interactions with people his age and not just to fight or ignore them like they are less than. I want others to see the awesome side of Sasuke few have been graced with, the Sasuke that is my best friend since forever.

I left the decorations up to Ino since she is better at that kind of thing, I just gave her some pointers on what to do. A lump of the money I have saved from missions is in my pocket and I'm scouring the shopping district to find the perfect gift. I was passing by and there was a small weapons shop tucked into the corner. The outside was nothing special but the inside was a wonderland for sword users. The entire store top to bottom had every sword style I could imagine. A perfect gift would be a sword, hopefully one similar to his Chokuto that he uses in Canon. I looked around for a bit when on a lower shelf I saw it. The sword of Kusanagi, it was long, elegant, and deadly. I picked it up and waved it around, it felt awesome. Sasuke is going to love this. I found a sheath for the sword, it was all black with a red snake coiling up it. I paid for both and spent extra to get the Uchiwa fan etched into the hilt of his sword and on the sheath. Giddily I skipped back to my home to wrap up his present.

At 6, Shisui complied to our demands and managed to convince Sasuke to go to the suite we rented out. The suite was decorated in black red and white balloons with his clan symbol and his favorite foods were laid out. There was even a cake made of Onigiri since he hates sweets. Shikamaru was sleeping on the couch, Kakashi was chatting with Zabuza and Anko, Choji was talking with Ino, Naruto and I were chilling on the bed in wait of Sasuke's arrival, Kiba was having a one-sided argument with Shino, Lee was doing pushups with Tenten on his back, and Neji was sitting in the corner watching Lee. There was music playing in the background and everyone was happy. The door flew open and Shisui had a shit-eating grin and Sasuke's face morphed into a scoul when he saw all the people here. What a guy.

"What. the. hell." He gave an annoyed glare to Shisui and then he took in his surroundings one more time. His eyes widened marginally at all the decorations and when he looked over to me, Naruto and I gave matching smiles. He stalked over to us, hands in his pocket and an eyebrow raised in question.

"Since I was gone for your birthday and didn't say anything, this is to make up for it so be nice." Naruto gave a thumbs up.

"Yeah Teme, Happy Birthday!" Everyone chorused their own versions of Happy Birthday and the annoyed aura around Sasuke dissipated slightly.

"Hn. Thank You." He mumbled, put off by the fact that everyone was willing to show up for him, and even more so that Ino wasn't all over him. After a bit of mingling and Naruto making Sasuke speak to others, everyone was enjoying themselves.

"Alright time for presents" Ino announced and Sasuke looked shocked at everyone holding something for him. Ino got him a self med kit, Naruto got him Ichiraku ramen tickets and a 'free spar' pass and some other things they can do together even if neither would admit it, Choji got Sasuke a new fabric to but his metal plate from his headband on, Shikamaru got him a specialized ninjutsu book he found, Kiba got him some kunai, Shino got him a better Kunai holster, Lee Neji and Tenten all got him new training equipment, Kakashi decided to teach him a new lightning ninjutsu, Zabuza's gift is sword lessons, Anko after lots of my convincing decided to help Sasuke use a snake summoning within the next year, Shisui got Sasuke more hidden Uchiha scrolls to perfect his Sharingan, and then there was mine. Sasuke opened the wrapping and pulled the sword hesitantly out of the sheath. He looked over every inch of it and a small smile graced his face. Nobody said anything but I know they all were surprised at his smile. His eyes flicked up to meet mine and I knew I gave him the best present possible.

"Hn. This, this is. Wow, you did something right for once freak." He smirked and I knew in Sasuke language that was a massive thank you. Everyone was ogling the sword and Zabuza was really impressed with it stating he was going to enjoy teaching Sasuke the art of using such a fine weapon. Ino decided it was time to play some games and I knew it was bout time for me to bolt. There is no way she didn't rig the games somehow and I'm scared to know what games her romance filled mind is wanting to play. I don't know if any of the games like spin the bottle exist but I just have a feeling they do. That sounds like a mess waiting to happen, and by the sneaky glance Ino and Shusui shared, he is in on it. He's probably trying to win his stupid bet with Zabuza. Sasuke and Naruto looked completely oblivious to the idea of what games Ino has in mind, they probably think they are actual games for competition. With one last glance at Shisui, he stood up and had Kakashi and Zabuza leave with him, all wishing Sasuke a happy birthday. That solidified my understanding that I need to leave. I stood up with a two finger salute ready to leave.

"Maa Thats my cue, I love you guys. See ya later, Duckbutt I'm sleeping over tonight." I turned around to leave but Ino was too fast and shoved me back with everyone else, a devilish smile on her face. Sometimes she is pure evil.

"No you don't. You're staying here until I say so." She sang out with no room for me to dispute her. I knew I'd lost so whatever we play, I'm going to damn well play like a baller. Go big or go home and since I can't go home… I just hope I'm not fucked over in what we do. "Alright, we are playing Truth or Dare. If you deny to tell the truth or do a dare, there will be consequences you do _not _want to endure. Let's play." She clasped her hands together and had us all sit in a circle. I was between Sasuke and Shikamaru. They both were sending me sideways glances out of annoyance and intrigue… I'm so fucked.

It started out pretty normal, Kiba had to lick Akamaru's paws which was hilarious and nasty since I know he hasn't had a bath in a while. Naruto had to send a mass of shadow clones and wake the village up by screaming songs with his mass of himself. That was great and seeing the villagers pissed like that was funnier than I'd thought it would be. Sasuke got a few dares and he admitted that he was afraid of the dark until he was 9. Neji got his hair french braided by Ino and Lee had to not say youth the rest of the night. Tenten admitted that she really likes to get her nails done even when she pretends to not. I had to stay in a handstand for 3 rounds curtsey of Lee. Shino had to tell his bugs which one was his favorite, I think that caused strife between his bugs and him. Everything went fine and dandy until Kiba got that feral grin and I knew something was going to go down.

"Ino-chan truth or dare?"  
"Dare"

"I dare you to admit your feelings to the person you like." Sasuke stiffened beside me but I smirked, finally I get to know who this mysterious boy she likes is. Her face was bright red but she still held herself with confidence and gave a small kiss to Choji. Everyone except Shikamaru sat with their mouthes gaping. That was not what I was expecting, but it's unbelievably cute, he was blushing and had a cute smile on his face. The start of the most beautiful romance. She confessed that when he saved her in the Chunin exams she realized how kind he really was, he was always caring about her even when she was mean and Sasuke obsessed. That's when her eyes opened and started liking Choji. As ninja, our lives are most of the time shorter so grabbing love while you can is a big thing, it's not uncommon for people to fall in love at a young age and get married between 16 and 19. I'm glad they found each other. Although everything worked out for Ino, she wanted to get even for Kiba's call out and the war started.

"Neji-san Truth or dare?"  
"Truth."

"Are you gay? That's the only explanation I can come up with on why your hair is so perfect." The room went dead silent and Neji's stoic face dropped. He looked more shocked than I've ever seen before, his eyes were wide and there was a massive sweat drop. Everyone was leaning in more to hear the answer but I broke the silence by laughing. I fell backwards and started wheezing from being unable to control my laughter. Naruto joined in since he knew Neji from spending time with us, this might have been one of the funniest questions to ask the ever stoic Neji who in his own right is a ladies man. Naruto also was glad the talk of being gay was off him and Sasuke. Naruto and I both got throat chopped so I was forced to stop laughing. Neji finally regained his composure but his annoyance was still apparent by the twitch in his eye.

"You are an imbecile, I am not gay." The harshness in his voice shut everyone up and we all moved on. I still had a gigantic grin on my face and was super glad I decided to stay for that. Neji was up next and he dared Lee to be silent for 5 rounds, I expected nothing less from him. Because Lee couldn't talk, we allowed Ino to do the next round.

"Shikamaru-kun, Truth or dare?" She slapped him out of his sleep and waited impatiently for his answer. He let out a big sigh and looked up in annoyance.

"Ugh, this is such a drag but knowing you, Truth would be more harmful so dare." Ino's eyes sparkled in mischief and she let out a giggle. Well, poor Shika is all I can say. Whatever she's planning, it's devious.

"I dare you to… kiss Hinata." Shika sat straight up and looked between Ino and I in disbelief, a twinge of pink on his cheeks.

"No way in hell lazy ass, you're not taking Hina-chan's first kiss dattebayo." Naruto bellowed out fuming. Neji just stood up and left, Lee following him with a gloomy aura. Sasuke was clenching his fist so hard his knuckles turned white. I just sat there blinking. Was a first kiss that big of a deal here, I mean wow. Either way, it's not like it's my first kiss or anything, I'd rather not make our relationship awkward with a kiss, but Shika is so chill it wouldn't change anything like it would if it was anyone else. Maybe I should leave though, kissing people like this is still kind of an awkward situation to be in. Honestly, never in my life have I imagined kissing Shika, it's the same for him too. Thunking about that stuff would be too troublesome. Naruto was still yelling at Shikamaru so I intervened.

"Damn Naru, calm down. Either way this wouldn't be my first kiss so stop worrying. Thanks for caring about me not wasting my first kiss but that is over and done with." I guess a first kiss does mean more than I thought because the room went dead silent again and all eyes were on me.

**_"WHAT?!" _**Everyone shouted in unison. Ino squealed in happiness and ran up to me, Tenten hot on her heels.

"Who was it? Was it that redhead? Tell me all about it. Why didn't I know this already?" They said together. Everyone else moved in closer to listen, I missed the suspicious glances Naruto and Shikamaru gave one another. I truly regret saying anything, I'm a ninja dammit not some girl who needs to gossip over love. Especially if my first kiss here was Itachi who preceded to put me in a coma right after, and my second one was with a boy who died right after. Sasuke had a dark aura surrounding him.

He already knew who it was, it was scary and his protective instincts seemed to be flowing out of him. Just like the first time when he found out, it was a sore subject still. Everyone looked at Sasuke confused by his reaction. He stood up in front of me pissed.

"That's none of your business." Ino didn't back down at all, unfazed by his attitude. Wow this is leaps and bounds from the fangirl she was, she's always had a backbone but to finally express it to Sasuke was a miracle to witness.

"It is my business. I want to know, especially now since it affects you so much _Sasuke-kun." _I grabbed Sasuke's hand and yanked him down to the ground.

"It's neither of your damn business, it's mine and if I wanna share it I have every fucking right to. My first kiss was with Itachi the night he put me in a coma. Thats why it bothers Sasuke and I never talk about it. Either way, no kiss can be as miserable as that one made me feel so it's not a big deal." Everyone was a bit gloomy and I didn't like it so I grinned and let out a small laugh. "Oh, and my second kiss was with Haku, it wasn't a good situation either but it was sweet and Zabuza's reaction to it was priceless." They all gave me incredulous looks, even Sasuke.

"That is so adorable, he confessed his love at first sight for you through a kiss! It's like a perfect tragic romance novel!"

"You kissed HAKU!" Naruto and Sasuke shouted together. I laughed at their faces, it was priceless.

"I know it's sweet but you don't need to be jealous Naru, Duckbutt. You guys had the most romantic first kiss of them all, you expressed your undying love for each other when you made Genin. It's a romance fit for Shinobi."

"I'm don't like the teme/dobe, Hina-chan/freak!" They said in unison yet again and I was dying. Everyone else found amusement in the situation too. I'm never letting them live their bromance down. Ever. While they were bickering, Shikamaru came over to me. Before I had a chance to say or do anything, he kissed me. It wasn't rough but it was by no means gentle. It was slow and almost lazy like him, but there was an intensity to it that he normally only shows in Shoji. He pulled away, flashed me a lazy smirk and went to lay down, falling asleep again.

I was stunned speechless. I didn't know if he'd actually go through with it. I touched my lips with a dopey expression, I never had time to dwell on my last two, but this was surprisingly nice. I don't think I like Shika, actually I don't think I like anyone like that but that kiss made my heart flutter a bit. My face was heated and I think I had to be blushing. Shikamaru was more than pleased, his heart was beating heavily and he felt extremely happy, waiting till he's older be dammed. After a bit more arguing and happy chats with Ino and Tenten, Sasuke was fed up so I said my goodbyes and went home with him and his pissy self. The whole Itachi thing is still a sore subject, he hates the situation and still want's to take out Danzo, and beat his brother up for getting manipulated by the likes of Danzo (and Obito).

I showered, put on some of Shisui's pajamas, and crawled into Sasuke's massive bed. He was still staring at his sword and tracing along the details with his index finger. I laid on my stomach next to him and watched absentmindedly.

"You're more brooding than usual." That brought him out of his trance and he scoffed at me.

"Hn. How'd you know I wanted a sword, I never told you." I looked up to meet his eyes and flashed a mischievous grin.

"Dude, haven't we been over this. I know everything. Plus, you'd look like a total fucking badass wielding a sword. It's in your genes to be good with weapons so I thought it would be good to make you the strongest you can be." His eyes twinkled with amusement.

"Hn. Like I need any more reasons for you to obsess over me." I rolled over and shoved him off the bed.

"You're one to talk mister I-allied-with-Naruto-to-bag-on-Shika-when-he-kissed-poor-innocent-Hinata."

"Innocent is not something I'd use to describe you. Perverted freak though…" He trailed off, egging me on. I threw a pillow at his face, he caught it and sent it back. It hit me dead on. This meant war. We wrestled and had a pillow fight, ruining a few of the pillows he had in his room. I was finally tired though and flopped down onto my side of his bed with only a sheet as a blanket so I don't get hot. He laid next to me with his arms holding me in a protective hold. I was almost asleep when he whispered to me. "What is Shikamaru to you?" My mind was slow and I was too tired to fully grasp the conversation but I answered.

"My best friend." His grip tightened on me.

"What am I."

"A duckbutt."

"Hn. Be serious for once."

"My family. Night, let me sleep. Love you." He ran his hands through my hair and I was out like a light. It's worked like that since we were little. I missed the last phrase he mumbled out with pure sincerity.

"Hn. Thank you for today. I love you."

—

(_3d POV_) _In Sunagakura_

Gaara took the letter off of one of the carrier birds and placed it on his desk, the only thing useful he has in his room since he never sleeps. He yearned to open the letter right away but was too busy with meetings with the elders to prove his worth and training with his siblings. Now that they are on better terms, they train to have more coordinated attacks. Gaara was the first one to leave the house and went on his way to meet with the bastards that weakly sealed the Tailed Beast Shukaku inside of him.

Every few days Kankuro noticed that Gaara was sending out letters and figured out he had a pen pal. The question he had was who is willing to exchange letters with Gaara and what they are saying that has made his brother seem so happy. He even started buying the color purple, purple for Kami's sake. Kankuro never missed the conversations Gaara had with Temari about girls and feelings. Gaara treats his letters like precious gold and never lets anyone see them. Today was the perfect day for Kankuro to 1. Find out who is sending him letters, 2. What the letters are saying that makes his brother so flustered, and 3. See what would happen if his precious letter somehow disappears. Now that he knows Gaara wont kill him, the puppet user is ready to play pranks he has missed out on for so many years.

Kankuro snuck into Gaara's room when his little brother finally left. Right in the center of his desk was a letter. He looked around for something Gaara could keep the rest of the letters in, knowing he wouldn't throw them out. Much to his sorrow, he couldn't find anything of the sort. Kankuro took the letter and went back to his room; getting caught in Gaara's room would end badly for him if anyone saw him. He carefully opened the letter, if it ripped Gaara might actually kill him. His eyes trailed down the letter in surprise. Kankuro never had a full conversation with Hinata, any chance he had was crushed by his little brother threatening to kill him so the only thing he had to go off of with her personality was the brief interactions he saw with his brother and her battles against Dosu and Kabuto.

From these, he decided Hinata was completely opposite of any girl he's ever met. She was fearless enough to not be afraid of Gaara, loving enough to make him change, stronger than anyone he's met; Kankuro knows shed kick his ass, and has a foul mouth. Not fitting the Hyuuga princess, he was told all Hyuuga were stuck up assholes. Reading the letter, a smile graced his face. His little brother made friends with someone special, someone funny and kind to show him all of what he'd been missing out on life. The letter itself was nothing special, at least to him. There was no romance or anything juicy he could tease his brother about, except maybe that it seems Gaara started buying purple because she said she liked it. And she said she was going to visit, maybe he could tease him about the head pats. Although the letter was worthless to him, he could see why the deprived of human contact little brother of his would cherish the letters of someone who really was making an effort to be his friend.

Being the brother he was, Kankuro placed the letter back into Gaara's room but instead of back on the desk, he slid it under the bed to see Gaara's reaction.

When Gaara got home from the day, he rushed up to his room to read and respond to the most recent letter Hinata had sent him. He walked to the desk and the letter was gone. Gaara stared for a bit, confused at the missing letter. His palms began to sweat a bit and he felt a feeling he couldn't explain slightly bubble inside of him. His heart felt like it was beating a bit quicker and he didn't feel the normal warmth he did when knowing there was a letter to read. Gaara was certain he received a letter so he searched for it in the most calm way he could. Deciding enough was enough, he used his sand to flip over everything in his room until he found his letter. His face vas void of emotion and Gaara stood right in the center of the room, hand's raised controlling the sand. It wrapped around his useless bed and he clenched his fist's.

"Sand Coffin." He mumbled out. The bed was instantly crushed and nothing but bits of feathers were left. His sand retracted back into his gourd Gaara loooked at the ground. There, under where his bed was sitting, was the letter. Gaara nodded contently, picked up the letter, and sat where the bed used to be. He opened the letter and read it, after a few minutes of reading and thinking, he got out his own utensils to respond.

Outside Gaara's room, Kankuro was watching shocked and amused. His brother literally destroyed his room to find one letter, it was a fun thing to do indeed. Not only did he get to see his brother freak out, he got to see the funny blush form when Gaara read his letter. A productive day in bonding indeed.

_Dear Hinata-chan,_

_Please do not worry about me. I would like more hugs and head pats from you, they make me feel warm. You will have to tell me why. I am awaiting your visit, I will have my home prepared for you to stay in. I presume Naruto Uzumaki will be coming too so I will have a room ready for him as well. What is a raccoon? I've heard of them but never seen what it is. I had a meeting with the elders of the village today and they allowed for me to officially train to become the Kazekage. I do not like them all that much but I forgive them for their decisions. I will always be here to protect you. I owe you my life. Congratulations for passing you Jonin exams, I am confident that you are going to succeed and be the strongest ninja. I would like to gift you something when you come since I was unable to attend your celebration firsthand. Everything you have accomplished shadow's becoming Kazekage, without you I would not be on this path so it is your achievement as well. I got a new shirt and pants. They are red and have buttons. I like salted tongue and do not know of a favorite drink. My favorite dessert is cookies. My favorite childhood memory is of my Uncle Yashamaru helping me at a park so I did not have to be alone. I would like to know your favorite dessert also. What is your dream? What is something you would like to do before you die? Stay safe for me please._

_From,_

_Gaara_


	14. The secrets of the ice

I have to leave tonight to head to that ball thingie for the Feudal Lord of the Ice Kingdom and since I would be gone for a few days, I was putting in as much training with Lady Tsunade as I could. I've managed to finally hold the mystic palm long enough to stitch and heal the wounds on the small fish so now Lady Tsunade has me working on Larger fish and other injured animals until she deems me ready to work on people. Thankfully, I have enough control to not make anything burst and get guts all over me. Sadly, I can barely manage to hold the technique for 5 minutes before it fails. Tsunade sometimes takes breaks to aid me, it's mainly so that she an avoid paperwork, but even the smallest help she gives has aided me in furthering my skill. She told me that if I calm my mind and find something to think about why I want to become a medical ninja, focusing on that will help me figure out how to use the mystic palm and master it. Once I have that down, we can work on my field awareness so I am not a target while healing.

My hair was up in a messy bun and there was sweat covering my whole body. I've been trying to stitch a deep gash in the side of a fish longer than my arm. I've managed to close enough of the wound to stop it from being fatal but that's not enough. My hands are hovering over the fish, the light green glow covering my hands and seeping into the wound threading the muscles and tissues back together. The light began to flicker, my arms were shaking wildly and the strain I was feeling was exhausting, but I cannot stop now. I'm finally pushing the 6 minute mark and need to keep going. If I am going to be able to heal the people close to me even in the slightest I need to be able to heal this stupid fish fully. I need to be able to keep this tedious ninjutsu up for more than 5 minutes.

Clear my mind, clear my mind. All the stress I felt in pushing myself to become a medical ninja, the exhaustion, the strain in my chakra from keeping it separated and in complete control for so long. All of this melted out of my mind as I zeroed in on the fish. My hands steadied and I spread my chakra throughout the fish, merging my chakra with it's, sending the flow to the wound allowing it to weave itself back together. Watching the flesh close up was nothing short of a miracle. I've been trained to kill, I know all of the points to take somebody out. Fighting, I love to fight, I love the ruggedness and the adrenaline, but this was something new. It was calming, it was undeniably beautiful to see the hands I have trained to destroy to heal something. I want to protect the people I love, I want to make the world better for people and I have been doing that through my fists, literally. Now, focusing solely on the healing, the saving on a life, there is another way for me to help. I will fight to protect but I will also heal to protect. A newfound determination surged through my trembling body and I watched in pure awe as the wound fully closed itself back up, leaving a faint scar on the now flopping fish.

I took another fish from the tank and sliced it, piercing through the lung too. I calmed my mind and the chakra around my hands changed from blue to a calming green. I slowly inserted my chakra into the fish, intertwining my chakra and flowing it through the body, focusing mainly on the lungs and gash. I yet again thought about the beauty of it again, the ability to protect with the mystic palm. I weaved my chakra like a needle and stitched the fish back together. Slowly but surely, the injuries I inflicted on the fish healed fully and it was happily flopping away. I pushed my limit, found my center, my true reasoning for being a medical ninja. My muscles and chakra were exhausted but I didn't care. I jumped up and did a little dance cheering. Tsunade looked at me in pride and amusement. She knew I finally found my motivation and was on my way to being worthy of the title as her apprentice. Tsunade got up and opened one of the cabinets in her room. Within it there were two scrolls, she pulled them both out and set them down in front of me.

"I was planning on waiting for you to be a bit older for these scrolls, but after seeing your resolve, it's time for you to learn what it means to be the apprentice of Tsunade Senju. I cannot train you when you are gone so instead, you will read these scrolls. Every word and line of them. These are techniques that I have created and I believe you will do right by them."

"Hell Yeah! I won't let you down master! At least now I have something to look forward to on my trip to hang out with a bunch of stingy nobles." Tsunade barked out a laugh and sent me on my way. I have to go pack and need to be leaving for the Ice Kingdom soon. I picked up the scrolls and jumped out the window like a boss. Since it is an important event, I was not aloud to pack my own clothes for the trip. Hanabi, Lady Seiko, and the clan elders decided on my clothing choices for me. I'd be afraid of looking like a frilly doll, but with the aid of Lady Seiko, I know she helped pick something that wouldn't make me hate myself. I packed my training scrolls and some weapons just in case, but of course I got caught by the annoying all seeing eyes and they confiscated all of my ninja stuff. Hanabi popped into my room, her hands behind her back and looking extremely adorable.

"Ohayo Nee-chan."

"What cha need Hime?" Her face lit up in a blushing happy smile and she grabbed my hand. I let her drag me to wherever she wanted to go. She's so excited I don't know if I have it in me to say no. Damn, I am such a weakling when it comes to her. Hanabi pulled me into one of the rooms in the compound. Waiting there were a few women from our clan. There were piles of clothing laid out around the room, a vanity, and much more. The sweet smile Hanabi gave tricked me. I put my hand over my heart and feigned being hurt.

"You wound me little Hime, those eyes and cute smiles of yours deceived me yet again. When am I going to learn to not fall for that." She giggled cutely and pulled me into a chair. The women around me bowed and I waved them off telling them to not bow to me.

"Nee-chan, you're going to meet lots of pretty princes so we are going to give you a makeover. You have to look your best." She spoke out, her voice soft and shy but with more confidence than usual. One look into her excited lavender eyes and I gave in.I was being primped and pampered just for my arrival, the ball isn't for another day but i still have to uphold my clan by looking presentable during our first meeting. No ninja play is what I was told, some noble clan leaders and heirs will be there but there will also be a lot of rich civilians so I can't act as a ninja. I can announce my rank and everything, but I need to look like a royal not a ninja. The women around me, with the help of Hanabi went to work. I was scrubbed clean, so much so that the callouses on my body were gone. They put some goopy black stuff on my face and really cold pads on my eyes. I didn't like not being able to see while people poked and prodded me, it gave me flashbacks to Shisui and his many jokes. Hanabi got so into it that I could hear her softly humming to herself as her tiny hands brushed through my hair. Someone was painting my nails, hopefully not pink, and someone was painting my toes. I was covered in a goopy cream that smells like cherry blossoms and I found myself relaxing a bit to the pampering. After so much training, getting pampered like this once and awhile is nice and calming. I really didn't expect to like it so much.

They finally let me wash off again and my skin was super soft. I looked in the mirror, I didn't look all that different, just a bit more glowy and the bruises that were littered across some of my skin were gone from the stuff they covered me in. I sat back in the chair and they went back to making me over. They put make-up on me, different from my normal kind. It fit more into the look Tsunami gave me on the mission: Long lashes, pink blush and pinker lips. I refused to let them do anything heavier than that. Sadly I can't have the makeup I do for myself since it's not sweet enough, but I don't want to look like a Geisha either; I still want to look like myself. Hanabi, like Ino, is some kind of master with hair and with a bit of help, she tucked my mess of hair into some kind of fancy braid thing that came over my shoulder. First, one of the older women wanted to put my hair in a traditional bun but that was a no no. Buns like those are tight, uncomfortable, and take forever. I like my hair to be more on the exciting side instead of the traditional boring slicked back bun. It just doesn't suit my person.

The final step was to dress me in the appropriate attire for meeting them the first time. It has to be elegant but not overly so. Honestly, sweatpants would be better to wear on the day-long journey but if I'm meeting someone so important, I need to make a good impression and bring honor to my slightly insane clan. I have to prove my right as heiress, ninja wise and politics wise. If it means playing the game they set up for me, I'm going to fucking win. Lady Seiko, its time for some of her training to shine. Talk the talk and walk the walk, I'm going to be surrounded by pompous assholes if they are anything like some of the clan elders and noblemen I have met so I'm going to avoid any of the traps they might set, whether it is to have unwanted allegiance with my clan or anything of the sort. Play them at their own game, I know this ball isn't just for me to meet people, it's so much more and I'm going to have to measure up.

The elders of my clan are old fashioned in the way that the man should be in charge, that women are simple minded dolls made for popping out babies and supporting their husband, the only difference in the Hyuuga is that they want the women to be strong and present themselves as smart loyal wives while actually just being under their control. I think that any wives of previous clan heads were smart but pretended to be what the clan wanted. I know my mom was not a mindless doll and I will not be like that either. I'm in the grey area for the elders, I'm not a mindless princess for sure, but they know I am loyal. I push their buttons when I refuse to just become the wife, the title of heir is mine but actually leading the clan, that all belongs to my husband. I've become so strong they can see me taking on the role of the ninja wife while I marry a husband who does everything else, all of the non ninja affairs. Having him be a ninja would only be a bonus.

A reason for this party is not for me to fortify alliances to aid the clan, not for me to show off as the perfect ninja princess they want me to be, not even for me to maybe catch the eye of a smart man who they can add to the list of possible husbands that would do well for the way they want the clan run. My actual intelligence is unknown for a reason, I can be paper smart but I am also a wild person. Sometimes I say things that are stupid or weird and that makes people think I'm not as smart as I am. The elders want me to go to the party and be overwhelmed by the clan politics, the manipulative rich people, and all that jazz enough so that I give in and become what the want me to be. A physically strong wife to the leader of the clan. My title of heiress is just a title to them, a means to allow a man be in charge and keep up the oppressive life of my clan. They want to see me fail and become a pawn for them, to feel the pressure and crack so they can pick up the pieces and redesign me into what they desire.

They want me to marry someone who can play the game with them, a man who will take control and do even the worst for my clan. They want him to come in and with me not thinking I can lead well, he can do it for me. I I love the people in my clan but I hate the way my clan functions, I have to be able to do something about that. To bring the change my clan needs to better the lives of everyone and to do that, I will have to play the elders like they hope to play me. I'm going to one day take command of my clan and fix everything that has been broken. I love my clan and mostly everyone inside of it, I want to make everyones lives better and if that means playing the part I am set up for, I will do it until I reach my breaking point. My clan deserves so much more, it is not the people but the way it has been led for so long. Father has made some changes but the council still has so much control, to change things I need to have total control.

I push the clan affairs aside most of the time, yes its important but there are so many more world threatening problems that I have to focus on. But now, when it is being put right in my face, I think and think. It's not going to be easy, just like it wont be easy taking out Danzo legally, but to bring about the change that will better so many lives now and in the future, I will do what it takes.

I was dressed in a more modernized Kimono because the Ice Kingdom does not follow traditional Japanese attire, except for festivals, so a normal Kimono would be too fancy. The dress was long and black with watercolor looking hibiscus flowers that covered the bottom and faded towards my waist. The sleeves were long and it was tight on the top but loosened when it met my waistline. It was silky and shiny. There was a bow tied around my waist instead of an Obi. There was no slit for my legs to move, but the fabric was a lot lighter than a normal Kimono so it didn't harbor my walking skills. Kami knows how embarrassing it would be if I ate shit from my lack of wearing full length Kimono's in the last few years. I gave thanked the women for their aid in my beautification Hanabi a kiss goodbye. My hands clenched around the fabric of my skirt and I hiked up my dress like the lady I am. Waiting for me at the entrance of the village were Sasuke, Neji, and Zabuza; each carrying their own bags. There was a horse drawn cart big enough for all of us to fit and travel in. Showing up by walking the whole way there is not an appropriate way to arrive to an event like this one. I was honestly kind of excited, it will be my first time riding in one and the prospect of not running continuously for hours in a kimono was very appealing.

Sasuke blanched and fought hard to push down the slight blush when I showed up, Neji nodded in approval but also gave me an amused and sympathetic look since he knew I was uncomfortable, and Zabuza laughed. Loudly.

"Who knew an uncouth brat like you could actually look like a respectable girl. You look even less like a ninja than before _Hime_." Zabuza teased, giving me a knowing look. When he was told I was not aloud any weapons of the sort, he lost it. He thought it was the funniest thing that I was being treated like a little princess child who needed the big bad protection of Zabuza. And now with the abrupt change in clothing choices, I'm never going to gain his respect back. We all got into the cart and I relaxed slightly as the bumps of the trail soothed me. After a bit of talk with everyone, I decided to pull out my scrolls from Lady Tsunade. I opened the slightly bigger one that went more into details about healing techniques for a variety of things that are possible to heal ranging from removing poison and toxins from the body to the way to counter cardiac arrest before it's too late. I turned my back and rested it against Neji's side. He glared down at me but did nothing to push me off. Neji was reading a set of scrolls from my father as ways to further his techniques, even as a branch member, Neji's skill and training with my dad has earned him the right to the family scrolls. Sasuke and Zabuza were going over sword techniques and strategies to memorize before Sasuke can be taught to use his sword properly.

I was finishing up on the section on how to remove poison that has entered the blood stream when my eyelids became heavy, the quiet and thrum of the ground beneath me lulled me to sleep. My head fell and Neji moved me to sleep more comfortable while he continued his reading. An electric jolt shot through my body and I shot up swinging a wild punch with my abrupt wakeup. My fist was caught and lowered revealing a smirking Uchiha. Zabuza was thoroughly amused; Neji gave Sasuke a glare for being a brat but he was still amazed by it, I could tell. I wrenched my fist from Sasuke and I jumped at him. I was still a bit dazed so Neji easily caught me and put me back in my seat.

"Refrain from acting like a wild animal Hinata-hime. We are almost there so prepare yourselves." I slumped over and noticed the clothing changes. Zabuza and Neji were both in their Ninja gear but Sasuke was dressed in casual Yukuta. It's black and pink to match mine since he was posing as my date. All of his weapons were hidden from plain sight. He looked annoyed at his outfit but I liked it, he looked super hot and I know all the women there will be all over him. Neji too, it will be so amusing to watch them fight off all the ladies.

The cart stopped and we were let out in front of a castle. Compared to the village, this was crazy. Everything was made of stone and it truly looked like a Kingdom. It is the Ice Kingdom but there was no ice in sight, everything was lush, green, and surrounded by beautiful plants and flowers. It's like Iceland, called Ice but has no ice anywhere; such a misleading name. There were guards stationed on the edge of the bridge that led to the castle entrance. They faced us and were stick straight as an Old man with graying hair and exotic looking rich purple clothing accompanied by a tall man in his early 20's with straight black hair and dressed similarly but had a deep annoyed frown on his handsome face. I feel like he is going to either going piss me off or be super entertaining. When they reached us Neji hit me in the tailbone and so I bowed down to the two. Sasuke begrudgingly following suit as Zabuza pushed him down. I straightened myself and smiled.

"I am Hinata Hyuuga, Ken-sama, Ken-san**(his son is Ken-san for now)** it is a pleasure to be invited to your Kingdom and meet an ally of my clan in person. I have heard great things about you from the elders. Hiro-sama and Hayane-sama give their best wishes." I plastered on my fake docile smile and did my best not to roll my eyes at the old dude in front of me. He had the fakest smile on his face and I instantly knew he was a greedy asshole of a man and he gave me bad bad vibes. To top it off, I know everyone else was laughing at my actions. The old man took my hand in both of his and planted a kiss on the top.

"The pleasure is all mine Hinata-Hime. I have been waiting to meet the heiress of the Hyuga clan for some time, I have heard wonderful things about you. People talk highly of your beauty but I'm afraid their words do you no justice. You are even more beautiful in person, isn't that right Kaneki my boy." **(A/N yes I made Kaneki Ken, sadly he wont be the same as in the anime tho cuz I just wanted to use his name and appearance.) **Kaneki grumbled and rolled his eyes in extreme annoyance. He didn't seem to want to be here as much as I did. Maybe he's not so bad, at least he doesn't give me the eerie feeling his father does.

"Yeah whatever I don't care." He turned on his heel and walked away.

"I apologize for his behavior, we are in a disagreement at the moment. Now Hinata-hime, please introduce me to your guardians, although from what I've heard you are more than capable of protecting yourself."

"This is Zabuza Momochi one of the seven swordsman, my cousin Neji Hyuga, and my date for the ball Sasuke." I gestured to each of them and they all shook the Feudal lords hand. He led us inside the castle and gave us a tour of the inside which was just as immaculate on the inside as it is on the outside. There was artwork decorating the walls and marble flooring that sparkled with the sunlight. It was beautiful and rich, nothing like I had ever seen but it was still nothing compared to the beauty of Konoha. When another guest arrived, Ken sent for Kaneki to show us to the inn we were staying at. It was quaint and for protection purposes I was sharing a room with Neji. Kaneki left right after he showed us the Inn, stating that we could find out own way through the town since it's not his job. As cool as seeing the new place was, I cared more about studying my scroll so we left Zabuza to do his own thing and Neji, Sasuke, and I went back my room to study together.

I made it to the last section of the scroll: How to remove poison from the bloodstream. This section interested me a lot because there are people like Shizune, Kabuto, Kankuro, and Sasori who are exceptional in poisons and being able to remove enough of the poison to slow down fatality of it is something I need to know and be able to practice in my lifetime. Plus I feel like somehow if I ever use poison I'd find away to prick myself and would need to get it out of me before I die by accidental suicide.

The scroll basically said to push your own chakra threaded hot water forcefully into the bloodstream and push the water to cover the poison, then to extract it out through the pathway of the bloodstream, keeping all of the poison surrounded by the water to not let it infect more of the blood. It takes a few times to get all the poison out before an antidote can be injected, but removing the poison will prevent any more affects of the poison as well as slowing the possible death substantially. It sounds basic in theory but the practice of it is extremely difficult because it requires precise chakra control especially with water in making the water a barrier within the blood while not inserting actual elemental chakra is a feat that seems to be impossible. And to insert water in the veins without clogging up the channels and causing a clot that would mean certain death. Also to drag the poison through the blood has a high possibility of letting it spread faster if not done 100 percent correct. It's a life or death type of medical jutsu and I'm determined to figure it out.

The sun finally set and I finished the first run through of one of the scrolls. My brain was shot and all I wanted was to sleep. I started to get ready for bed but I was stopped before I could change into my pajamas.

"I will not share a room with a person covered in filth from travel. We are not on a typical mission so you will keep yourself clean. We will go to the hot springs and clean off before you even think of going to sleep." Sasuke smirked at me as I looked at Neji in pure awe. Sometimes I forgot how much of a clean freak he is. Sasuke is super organized but Neji is just a freak. He hates things being dirty as much as he hates unhealthy food, which is A LOT. If I didn't know how much of a dedicated Shinobi he was, I would struggle with comprehending how he could handle missions that require camping out. Oh the horrors of sleeping with dirt. We all grabbed towels and our pajamas and did the quick walk to the bath house. To my horror, it was MIXED BATHING. Who in Kami's name thought it would be a good idea to have mixed bathing. Like seriously, it had to have been some horny teenage boy or a pervy old man because most people in their right mind don't want to share a bath with the opposite gender past the age of like 7. Have they ever heard or hormones or perverts, like what the helllllll.

"I know I'm like super sexy and all but if you peak at me I will shove my foot so far up your ass it will come out of your mouth." Neji deadpanned at me and Sasuke looked on with a slight blush and glare.

"Hn. That's my line, freak. For all I know, you might look as manly as you act." Sasuke commented back. We had a stare down missing Neji strip and plop himself into the bath.

"Low blow asshole" I pouted, disappointed that I lost and that he would insult me on something he knew Ino and Sakura tormented me on.

"You started it freak." It was his apology, the sincere regret he had on his face was enough and we made up right away.

We turned away from each other, both of us blushing slightly at the prospect of mixed bathing. I went over to the female locker room and stripped while wrapping a towel around myself simultaneously. Once I was sure to tucked in, I let my hair out of the braid and ran through it with my fingers. I grabbed the soap, wet my hair and body, and cleaned myself off before joining Neji in the Hot Spring. Sasuke was already in and thankfully it was so steamy, you could barely see a foot in front of you. There was no way to see one another, luckily I was with Neji and I'm pretty Sasuke isn't a perv.

"Neji-niisan?"

"Yes Hime?"

"How is Lee's recovery going? I haven't been to see him as much as I want and I feel like a dick."

"With the amount Gai and him are training, he should be back to his baseline in a matter of months."

"That's good to hear." I heard Sasuke scoff a bit. "Still butt hurt he kicked your ass in 30 seconds?" I chided, my voice teasing. I knew he would get riled up. The water sloshed and I'm guessing he stood up but decided to sit back down, realizing us trying to get at each other right now would be super awkward, funny, but awkward. "Oh don't sit down on the account that we're naked. I'd kick your ass clothed or otherwise. I thought the great Duckbutt Uchiha was unstoppable, who knew nudity was his weakness." My face morphed into a grin and I knew Sasuke could picture it even in the heavy steam.

"Hn. I just have respect for others, something you wouldn't understand." He stated, his voice a bit higher than usual. I knew I had one and Sasuke did too.

"Uchiha stop flirting with my sister and clean yourselves so we can sleep, tomorrow is a big day and we have to keep Hinata-hime safe." Neji stated blandly, a hit of overprotectiveness seeping through. Shisui bets on my love life and Neji protects me from it, what a wonderful combination of brothers I have. I couldn't ask for anything better.

"I-I'm not flirting with that freak!" Sasuke shouted while I laughed my ass off. I got out first and wrapped myself back up into the towel. I went into the female changing room and moisturized and put on my pajamas, keeping my hair wrapped in a towel to dry. I waited at the entrance and after a bit, Neji and Sasuke showed up too. Neji's hair was silky looking and dry meaning he took the time to brush and blow-dry it. Sasuke's normal duckbutt was flat and wet, dripping water down his face and neck. On our walk back, Sasuke took the towel off my hair and whipped me in the ass with it, starting our fight. We were ready to pound one another when Neji stepped in, having bruises would be bad for both of us to have in our outfits for the ball tomorrow. Zabuza was waiting for us when we returned and after some goodnight's, we parted ways into our rooms.

—

I woke up at noon and was shocked at the time. I fully expected Sasuke to push me out of bed or for Neji to wake me up to eat a healthy breakfast and what not. I felt like I was missing something when I realized I don't have to train today. It's kind of weird to not have to train at anything at all, even injured I have something to do but now, nothing. I got up and brushed my hair, leaving it down and throwing on one of the outfits packed for me. I don't have to get ready for another 2 hours so I set off to explore for a bit so I could find food. I found a small dango shop and got some ti-colored ones to enjoy with orange juice. I chatted with the shop owner, a short old lady with a potty mouth. She was one of the funniest old people I've ever spoken with and I 10/10 would adopt her as my grandmother.

When I returned to the hotel, I went straight to Zabuza's room so we could discuss the mission. Hopefully nothing will go wrong but to make sure, we all had our roles planned out. I don't like having to be the damsel in distress, but for the sake of my clan, I have to stop being a ninja for a night. And being at such an important event, as an invited guest there is rules where I am not aloud to physically harm other guests or ruin anything or else the blame is put on my clan. There are heavy punishments for infractions so even if someone tries to hurt me, I am not aloud to fight back unless it is dire. Because of that, I have guards to do the protecting for me, one posed as my date and the other two as obvious guards. Sasuke had to do his best to hide his status and just act like my date, nothing more and nothing less. Just like me, he has to dress himself up and I cannot wait to see him and the clothing the elders picked out for him. Luckily Sasuke trained with his mom on being a gentleman so it shouldn't be too hard; toning down his attitude will be the biggest thing.

Surprisingly, Zabuza had done his fare share of infiltrating events like this as an assassin so he has set up all the precautions. I know he is going to get extreme amusement from Sasuke and I being dressed to the 10's and acting surrounded by prissy assholes without being able to do a thing about it.

I got myself ready by doing my hair, I braided it last night so letting the braids out, my hair fell into beautiful loose waves down my back. I put a small braid to tie a piece of my hair back and pinned it. My makeup was a bit of eyeshadow that had a light shine to it, winged eyeliner, long lashes, blush, and a pinkish-red lipgloss. It was perfect. My jewelry was silver earrings and a matching necklace. I had a few bracelets on as well. I finally pulled out the dress and I was in awe, it was beautiful. It looked like the perfect mix of a modern dress with a hint of kimono vibes. Even if it was a dress, I felt giddy to be able to wear something so exotic. It was a lavender-white silk, long sleeved, off the shoulder with a slit on the leg, curtsey of Lady Seiko so I don't face plant, dark purple flower designs covered over the dress and at my waist, there was a lavender silk sash.

The sleeves flared out at the bottom and the dress, other than the tightness at my waist was loose flowing and looked so elegant. I traded out my ninja sandals for normal white sandals that showed off my black painted nails. When I looked in the mirror, I was gobsmacked. Last time I truly dressed up I was young, this time I could see how much Ive grown in my 13 years of life. I looked like me but like the most high class version of myself. I looked like a true badass princess of a strong clan and I was fucking hot. I love the way I look normally, I prefer it to this glitzy girl, but something about this dress, the way it seemed to be made for me, was amazing and I was ready to show it off. I just wish it was with my friends instead of a bunch of rich strangers the elders know.

_(Sasuke POV) _**(A/N cuz why the hell not)**

I was waiting in an uncomfortable kimono for Hinata to leave her room so we can go to the ball her clan is making her go to. Zabuza and the bastard Neji were able to stay in their normal clothes and unlucky for me, I have to dress up alongside Hinata. When she asked me on a date, I was shocked but then she mentioned it was for a mission. It was a massive disappointment, but tonight I am going to be the best date and show her that she loves me like I love her. I need to make her mine, I was fuming after she kissed that lazy ass Shikamaru. That's 3 people she's kissed and none of them have been me. She's mine and it's been set like that since my fathers proposal when we were 4. She's my best friend, one of the last pieces of my family and I love her. She's an idiot so luckily I'm posing as her date so other idiots don't get the wrong idea.

Hinata's door opened and she waltzed out of her room practically glowing. She was wearing a dress that accentuated every curve of her body and was so beautiful. Her hair was flowing down her body in waves glistening beautifully like how I like it. She was amazing and she was my date. My mouth was dry and I couldn't find any words to express her beauty. She locked eyes with me and had on the mischievous grin I knew and feared. I gave her a smirk in return, walking up to her side so we could leave together. After a bit of banter between her Zabuza, and Neji; she finally turned back to talk to me.

"Wow." I mumbled out. She smirked.

"I know I'm just that hot! Thanks for admitting it." She replied smugly.

"I was saying wow because you actually look like a nice person, not the freak you are."

"Fuck off." Her lips pushed out into a pout and I pat her head condescendingly relishing in the feeling of her soft hair. "Duckbutt, did ya figure out the sword pattern Zabuza was teaching you?" I looked down at her and she laughed. "Whatever, I forgot you're not Naruto. Mr-I-memorize-everything-instantly."

"Hn." She grabbed my hand and started swinging it back and forth mindlessly.

"What kind of food do you think they'll have? There will be food right. Oh I'm so pumped for super rich people food! I bet there are so many foods we haven't been able to try living in Konoha!"

"Hn probably." We made it to the gate entrance of the ballroom, it was massive and decorated unnecessarily extravagant. Everyone was dressed up as much as we were and there were lots of older people talking to one another about business, I noticed some shinobi who were off duty like Hinata but there were a lot of what seemed to be stuck up Feudal Lords and noble families. Hinata stopped her goofiness and weaved her dainty hand through my arm. She straightened out and I tightened my hold on her when I felt her shake a bit from nerves. I leaned down to her ear and whispered to her.

"Don't be nervous dumbass. You're not that much of an idiot, you'll be fine." She enhanced her hand with chakra and squeezed hard. I grunted in pain and she gave me a grateful smile.

"I'm not nervous… I'm trembling in excitement." She threw my line back in my face and I rolled my eyes, a small smile threatening to show.

"It sounded better when I said it."

_(Hinata POV)_

I stifled a laugh and pushed Sasuke's head away from mine. Ken came up to Sasuke and I a creepy smile on his face. He was dressed in the most extravagant fabrics and covered in jewelry to display his wealth. He grabbed my free hand and kissed it, I tensed slightly but kept a polite smile on as I withdrew my hand. I gave a slight bow, Sasuke following along.

"Ahh Hinata-hime you truly are a sight for sore eyes, the most beautiful blossoming woman here tonight." Sasuke gripped tighter on to me and Neji's chakra fluctuated slightly in KI, they all got the same creepy feeling from Ken that I did.

"You flatter me Ken-sama. The ballroom is beautiful I cant wait to enjoy everything you have to offer tonight." He laughed and led us in, promising to have an important conversation about alliances later. Neji and Zabuza huddled themselves in the corner so they could see everything but not have to be involved. I dragged Sasuke to the assortment of luxurious foods set out. I skipped past the alcohol and went straight to the Bakudan, piling desserts on top of it to enjoy. We found an area to stand and eat, a few people came over to interact with me. All of them were people who wanted to do business or have been doing business with my clan. Trades like protection for goods and such. It was exhausting keeping up my tirade and to not get caught into the traps they set with their talking. I managed to find entertainment with Sasuke. We would find people talking and make up our own conversations of what they would be talking about. My favorites were doing short, old, fat men who seemed to reek of pride and infidelity.

Kaneki was standing alone looking pissed at the world, so I left Sasuke to go talk for a bit with Zabuza while I went over to Kaneki. He's the main reason I'm here so I should probably talk to him. His eyes flickered up from his drink to me, sizing me up, then back to his drink with a scoff.

"What do you want?" He asked in annoyance. I leaned against the wall next to him, eating a stick of Dango.

"This party is so fucking boring and by the look on your face this kind of thing isn't your speed. It's filled to the brim with assholes who are either cheating on their spouses or their taxes. Or some are like me and are sent here on behalf of their arrogant clan elders. I'm here to supposedly meet you so thats what I'm going to do." He looked up at me in surprise then gave a sly smile.

"Little princess has a mouth on her. I thought girls like you loved this kind of thing."  
"Girls like me like to fight, not act like an angel and talk business. I'm a ninja, not a princess."

"Ahh, so my father wasn't lying when he said you were a strong Kunoichi. You don't look the part much." He brought his cup to his lips and took slow gulps of the alcohol, eying em the whole time.  
"Maybe, maybe not. Looking the part doesn't matter, my actions speak for themselves." I brought out a fist and I was grinning. He doesn't hate me, and even if his dad is a creep, he seems cool. "What do you like to do for fun?" Kaneki and I got into deep conversation, he was kind of an asshole but interesting to talk to. At some point, Ken came over and convinced Kaneki and I to dance together. I'm pretty sure we are friends now, thank God I could find something to make him like me, the tongue lashing I'd get if an important benefactor in my clan would hate the new heir would be miserable. Kaneki left for a bit and Ken swooped in to talk. He hinted to my marriage with Kaneki if I was interested, which I turned down quickly no matter the benefits it would supposedly have.

Ken was creepy and the way he talked gave me the idea that he was a selfish man, he wanted something more than just an alliance with a strong clan for his safe keeping. There was no way he is good, he reminds me too much of Gato. Everything about him was off and he kept alluding to something but it was so subtle I could never figure it out. He was a bad guy, but he was intelligent. Almost too much so. He laid out verbal traps for me to set myself up in giving him information and agreements to unnecessary trades. It took everything to avoid them, he knew I was playing an act and was trying to push me to break it. He threw out questions and stories and I was getting overwhelmed by his presence, how my clan deals with a scumbag like him, I'll never know. I know why they wanted me to meet him of all people. He's smart and if I was any less headstrong, I'd give up on the idea of leading my clan if it would mean talking to people like him. He was intimidating and manipulative and I could do nothing but avoid getting crushed by him.

Sasuke finally rid himself of the girls around him and pulled me away from Ken. I dragged him to the dance floor so we could have fun and dance. He placed his hands on my waist and I put mine around his neck.

"If I had to spend another minute talking to him, I swear I was going to punch him through a fucking wall. He's such an asshole, Agh. There's something so creepy about him but I can't put my finger on what." I huffed out annoyed but grateful to him for the save.

"You're welcome." He spun me around and back into his arms. We continued swaying to the beat.

"This reminds me of when we were little and I had to take lessons. You hated me back then and when we had to dance together, we couldn't stop fighting." I laughed out in reminiscence.

"What makes you think I like you now?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow, his tone unchanging in the question. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"You know you love me."

"Hn whatever. Don't start making up any of your crazy dance moves this time, there is only so much I can compensate for." I gasped and put one hand over my heart in fake hurt at Sasuke's blatant jab at my dance skills. He sent me a small smile in victory, but it was short lived.

"You wound me my dear duckbutt. Everyone know's I'm the best dancer out of our duo. You can have the win for being the hottest since I know the entirety of the girl population would agree, but no way can you take my dance crown away." I stated so over dramatically throwing my head against Sasuke in anguish. He hummed and I could feel it vibrate through his chest.

"You finally admit I'm hot?" I rolled my eyes and deadpanned at him.

"No duh, You're an Uchiha its in your blood to be hot dumb ass. I'm not blind." His teasing was gone and his features softened a bit. HE pulled me closer to him and spoke lowly.

"Hn. You are blind if you think you're not beautiful. Everyone here would agree with me, you are the most amazing one here." **(A/N I feel like Sasuke could be super smooth if he wants. Like he's an awkward dick sometimes but so possessive that he would pull out the shots when he needs to. Aka to win Hinata after she already has kissed Shika and Itachi)** I gaped in pure shock at the smooth words that just came out of his mouth. Oh my Kami, Sasuke Uchuha, my best friend who calls me a freak Sasuke Uchiha called me pretty. What the Fuck, I never ever expected him to say something like this. Does he like me, or is he being nice?

"I-I. what?" Sasuke was about to respond to my confusion when Kaneki butted in, grabbing one of my hands and asking me to dance. I really needed to finish my conversation with Sasuke but at the same time I was terrified of what he would say. I opened my mouth to decline and ask for one more song, but Kankei took that as a yes instead and pulled me away. Kaneki handed me a drink as we danced, I drank a sweet juice while he had something that smelt of hand sanitizer. He told me more of his plan to take over the kingdom when he is married and how he is going to change everything. He seemed so passionate and I was so immersed I didn't notice the haziness of my mind. People began to leave and when I turned to find my team, they were nowhere in sight. Something felt off but my mind was getting to fuzzy for me to really think straight. Ken came over and offered Kaneki to take me home to not get caught in any trouble. I agreed and when we were half way there, I stumbled and fell over into Kaneki.

"Shh, just relax I have you. Let yourself succumb to sleep." Everything was blurry but I could vividly see Kaneki's red eyes and wide lecherous smile.

"You fuck- ugh bastar… wha did you do to…" Everything went black and I was out.

I woke up distorted and foggy but when my vision cleared, Zabuza Sasuke and Neji were all chained and gagged in front of me. The chains had to be chakra suppressors and whatever they did had to have been strong to take out all three of them. Ken and Kaneki walked out of their hiding.

"You fucking bastards what the hell did you do to them. When I get out of here I'm going to." Ken cut me off with a chuckle.

"Do you like my trap I set. You focused so much on what I was saying to all of you and on everyone's actions around you, you forgot to check your food. Everyone else was given the antidote to my sedative but you four. Ahh for such strong ninja, you sure went down easy."

"What the fuck do you want." I hissed out, my head still throbbing.

"You my dear. Money like ours doesn't happen just by being good now does it. See, I've gone and gotten myself into trouble with some strong people in the underground and I can't seem to find a way to pay them back but if I have the Hyuga clan at my service, I can take them out without spending anything."

"Go fuck yourself. My clan would never help lowlives like you."

"Oh but you will. You're going to marry Kaneki, he's smitten with you already and promised if he could have you, he'd do anything for me. Once that happens, he will take the crown and become the man in charge of the Hyuga clan. His poor little wife will fall ill and stay locked away and Kaneki will humbly take charge. He will have all those strong ninja at his disposal to fix the problems his dear old father made. Of course, if you refuse Kaneki can always kill the three you came with. The black haired one first, he seems partially fond of you." Sasuke and Neji struggled against their chains and Zabuza let out a ferocious growl that the gag did nothing to muffle. This situation was no way in our favor and I would not let any of them die. If Kaneki is so blinded by his infatuation with me that he's willing to submit to the father he hates, that might be the only saving grace I have. Thank Kami for crime shows, Ino, and Lady Seiko cuz thats the only thing that's going to help me right now. I forced the sneer off my face and put on a scared look.

"Don't fucking touch them." I forced the sneer off my face and put on a sad and scared pout as I turned my gaze to Kaneki. "I-I don't understand why you would join your father now. I would have married you if you asked."

"You told me how you hated the arranged marriages and wanted to marry for love my dear Hinata-hime, I know you would not marry me without some persuasion." He stepped closer to me.

"You're wrong. I believed that too but when we danced. Oh when we danced, I felt something I've never felt before. You were smart and funny and kind. I fell for you then. You could have just asked, I would have said yes. You don't have to hurt my friends. Please. Stop your father and I will go with you, you cant let him hurt them. You said how you wanted to change the kingdom, change it with me. Forget your father, let his debt catch up to him and we can rule over a strong clan and powerful Kingdom together." Kaneki was right in front of me right now, Ken was pissed and shouting at Kaneki to not listen to my lies. Tears were pouring out of my eyes and I wanted to laugh at how messed up the situation is. If I cant convince Kaneki of anything, we are as good as dead.

"Prove it my darling." He whispered against my lips. I leaned forward as much as my bindings would let me and I kissed him. He was so intense and pushing for more. I told him to untie my hands so I could feel him. I had him trapped. He listened and allowed my hands free, I put one in his hair and the other around his neck. I listened as Ken stalked closer to us, ready to pull Kaneki off. Kaneki pressed his tongue against mine and as soon as Ken was close enough, I bit down as hard as I could. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth and Kaneki pulled out with a startled cry. I wrapped my hands around his neck, holding him in the perfect position to break it. I spit some of the blood out of my mouth and grinned a bloody smile.

"Take one more step and he dies. You can't have your little plan if the main piece is gone."

"You wouldn't kill him."

"It's in my job description, I kill for a living."

"You stupid little bitch, what pert of hostage don't you understand. You agree to my terms or your friends die."

"They are Shinobi, every mission could be their last. Giving up their lives to save others, a kingdom from your crazy ass is nothing but honorable. Also, you cant kill them, I have the cards now." I pulled the Knife from Kaneki's pants hand. "Sempai, catch!" I threw the knife and it was on target, barely. It went through Zabuza's hand but that gave him access to it and broke himself free, quickly freeing Neji and Sasuke as well.

Quickly they took down Ken and tied Kaneki with him.

"You broke the contract, it's your head Hinata Hyuga."

"See, the best part is I did nothing of the sort. Kaneki and I shared a passionate kiss when I was startled by his father and bit down on accident. The only person I caused physical harm to was Zabuza-sempai. But you on the other hand, threatened the heiress one of the noble clans of Konoha as well as one of the last members of the Uchiha clan, you admitted to your dirty work as a Feudal Lord, and I have access to mind reading jutsu that would confirm my story. You have nothing on me but I have enough to have your sorry ass executed." I laughed out with a happy grin just to annoy him further.

"You bitch, I'll kill you." He shouted, pulling against his chains. Neji swiftly punched him back to the ground.

"Fuck you too asshole. Next time don't threaten my friends." I gave a little wave and was escorted out by Sasuke. He's supposed to take me home while Zabuza and Neji take care of things and send notice to the Leaf.

We were riding in the cart reading our scrolls in a slightly awkward. I had my head propped up on Sasuke's lap as he used one hand to brush my hair.

"This is definitely a sign that we should never go to fancy things."

"Hn. You were smart, smarter than I thought you could be." He teased slightly, it was lacking vigor though. Something was bothering him.

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day." I put down the scroll to look at him.

"You are such a freak." I giggled a bit. He sighed deeply. "It seemed too real. I hated that feeling." His fist clenched tighter around his scroll.

"What feeling?"

"I was helpless, you had to kiss that freak because I failed to protect you. You hd to lower yourself to protect me again. Damn it, even Naruto could have done a better job than I did."

"it's not your fault. he got all of us. That dude was smarter than I gave him credit for."

"I'm weak, I always train to be stronger and catch up, to be able to protect you so you dont have to protect me, to save Itachi but I fail something so easy and have you dirty yourself to help me." He shouted at me in pure Sasuke anger. His sharingan was ablaze unconsciously.

"You're such a fucking idiot sometimes. You're not weak not even close. I wouldn't have brought you along if you were weak. We all got screwed like Idiots so stop blaming yourself, this doesn't show your strength. You will save Itachi, you protect me all the time but that doesn't mean I wont protect you too. I'd do whatever it took to save you." I was staring him in the eyes, gripping his shirt in my fist incase I needed to punch some sense into him for thinking he was weak for getting trapped in something that got all of us.

"That's not the point. I was useless, I had to sit and watch you confess your love and kiss another guy to protect us." My eyes widened at his reasoning. He wasn't just mad because we got caught in a stupid trap. We were closer than before and I only realized it now. My face started to heat up a bit, the intensity was different than when we normally would be this close. It was different from the many times we were together as kids.

"Yeah, that was pretty gross for me, I can still taste his blood." I cringed at the thought of biting his tongue so hard.

"I'm going to fix what he did to you." He murmured, eyes still blazing and passionate he was angry with himself and Kaneki.

"Wha-" His lips cut me off kissing me in the passionate way I could only describe as Sasuke. All of his teasing was gone and replaced with the possessiveness and love only an Uchiha could feel. It was deep, slow, and passionate but gentle like he didn't want to break me. His lips were warm and soft but his fury and need to cleanse me of Kaneki was obvious as he traced his tongue on my lower lip and plunged it into my mouth. He was hesitant and awkward at first, but got more intense as the kiss went on. It was slow and passionate like he was expressing the words he refused to say. I wanted to back off and talk about everything but I couldn't it was so consuming. I was shocked that Sasuke of all people was kissing me. I drifted off into the kiss and he gently prodded my mouth with his tongue tracing over everything it could reach. My hands drifted from his chest to tangle in his soft hair and allowed him to be in control as he let his anger out. He bit down a pulled on my lip slightly, as he tilted his head and kissed me deeper. Finally he pulled away, eyes half lidded and a small smile on his lips. I sucked in a breath, trying to gather my bearings. He pulled me against him as I fell asleep in the familiar comfort of his arms, the taste of Kaneki replaced with the cinnamon taste of Sasuke. For the moment I pushed away the inner turmoil I had with the situation, dazed by his kiss.

_Sand Boy,_

_I can't wait to visit, I will be there next week! The ball went as expected, I got drugged and had to fight some dudes so that was so not fun, but it ended well. I think you feel warm because you need human affection like everyone else, I'm no expert at that though. Naruto said he'd come so if you can make his room orange. A raccoon is an animal, I'll find a picture to show you since Shukaku looks like one. i'm so pumped that you are on your way to Kazekage, I wouldn't be surprised if you became it by the end of the year. I don;t like my elders much either, they are old and wrinkly and devious assholes who need to be taught a lesson. Being Kazekae is all on you, I'm just glad I can be there to support you and cheer you on. I kinda figured you got a new shirt and pants since that is clothes, but I guess I will just have to see in person what they look like. I've never had Salted tongue so you're going to have to eat some with me. It sounds weird but I'm willing to try it. We can also have a drink party and go around your village and try drinks until you find one you like. You will have to tell me more happy memories you have, I want to know so much more about you. You remain a mystery, its cute but I don't like real life mysteries that I can't solve. My favorite dessert is a tie between Dango, Daifuku, and Mochi. What's yours? My dream is to be strong enough to protect people and give everyone a chance at a better life. I want to fly before I die, I don't care how but flying sounds so freeing. I am doing my bets to be safe, even if it's not always that easy cuz bad guys just love to do dumb things. What is your dream? What is a game you have never played that you want to play?See you soon! _

_Love, _

_The super confused at the moment Hinata_

Being a Jonin and having a good bond with the son of the previous Kazekage who is finally said to be the next Kazekage has its perks. I told Tsunade about how much I wanted to visit the sand village to say hi to Gaara and to allow that to happen, she made it my and Naruto's mission to meet with the future Kazekage and re-secure the alliance that was broken in the failed invasion attempt. Naruto and I were the perfect candidates because of our status in the Village and being friends with Gaara, thankfully Tsunade made the mission of what would normally take 8 days including travel is now a 11 day trip so I can spend some time with Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro after the alliance is agreed upon. The failed invasion was rough on Suna so the alliance is extremely in Konoha's favor so there will be no issues with the signing, they could have started a war and instead we are re-establishing an alliance instead of starting a war Suna would surely lose in.

Naruto is absolutely one of the best travel companions I could ever have. His sealing is getting so much better and he sealed away everything I need and more for our journey, instead of having to carry clothes and food in a backpack, I have a tiny scroll he made for me with everything in it. I'm traveling with so much shit that I want to show Gaara but it feels like I have nothing. It's especially nice because the trip there takes 3 days if we run and carrying camping equipment would make that much more of a hassle if it wasn't sealed away. I also can't forget the look Naruto gave Sasuke when he told him it was a mission for just us. It was possibly the most smug look I have ever come across and I lost it when Naruto was taunting Sasuke about how much more important he is because he gets such a cool mission. It was so funny even Kakashi started laughing which of course sparked the boys rivalry and they began another lovers quarrel.

—

Naruto and I arrived at the gate of Suna right on time. There waiting was Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari. Temari had a knowing look on her face for who knows what and Kankuro was purple and smirking like always.

"Panda-kun!/Gaara." Naruto and I shouted at the same time, wide smiles on our faces. I jumped onto Gaara, wrapping him in a hug. He didn't even falter from the sudden weight, his body just stiffened then relaxed as he returned my hug and greeted Naruto. Even with the knowledge of Gaara, Naruto, and I being friends my excitement and ability to basically attack Gaara in a hug without his sand blocking mystified Kankuro. The small smile he hid was not hidden to the well trained eyes of Temari and I.

"Hinata-chan, Naruto-kun I am glad you have finally come to visit."

"Yeah, I get to visit a friend and go on a B-rank mission. It's so cool dattebayo!"

"I promised I'd come didn't I. I just had to kick some asses to make it happen sooner." I cheered still hugging Gaara, basking in the feeling of him hugging me back. He looked down at me confused.

"I thought you asked Lady Tsunade to give you a mission to be able to come, I did not know you had to hurt people to come visit." He said, perplexed at the information. It was only when everyone was laughing that he figured out that I was just using an expression. "Oh." I finally let go of Gaara and gave him a good look. His hair was a bit longer and just as messy and instead of wearing ninja clothes, he was dressed in a nice purple top with black pants and a tan scarf to block out the sand. He was also taller than last time I'd seen him and lost even more of his baby face. His eyes were as pretty as ever and seemed to glow in a kind of warmth that wasn't there before. All in all, he looked happy and it made my heart swell knowing that he was doing ok. Naruto as dimwitted as people might think, noticed the change in Gaara as well and couldn't stop the blooming smile from growing even wider on his whiskered cheeks. Temari was dressed casual but nice and Kankuro was dressed in his black sweatshirt and pants, crow strapped on. They all lost the hostile looks they had on when we'd met the first time and instead opted to study me with intrigue and obvious kindness. They already met and fought Naruto and knowing him they know everything they need to for understanding his character, but me, I was still a mystery. The girl who was never afraid and helped their little brother finally feel acceptance.

"Ah shit, fuck." i cursed as I realized how long I'd been staring. I turned to Kankuro and Temari. "Last time we'd met it was on bad terms and I was kind of a dick, even if you deserved it, but we cool now so I'm glad we can finally have a more amicable meeting and become friends. You both seem like fun people to hang out with and I'm so fucking pumped to see the village. I have so many questions and things I want you guys and Gaara to show me. I haven't really had many missions outside the village so I have to see how other places work." Temari smirked and shook my hand.

"You weren't kidding when you said she's nothing like the uptight asshole Hyuga clan little brother. You're the type of heiress I don't want to slice in half and the only other kunoichi our age who takes it seriously. You also managed to get my ice block of a little brother to change for the better so safe to say we'll become good friends." Kankuro shook my hand next, squeezing it unnecessarily but I could tell I was super amusing to him.

"You and Uzumaki got spunk, nobody has managed to fluster Gaara more than you, there was this one time when I-" Temari and Gaara both stopped Kankuro from talking which was a bummer because I really wanted to know what was able to fluster Panda Boy. We followed the Sand trio through the town and to get to a massive building that out shined the rest. Houses in Suna were very different from Konoha. Instead of the wooden foundations of Konoha, the buildings in Suna were made of some type of Sand/concrete/plaster type material to protect the buildings from the harsh sandstorms. Everything was shades of tan and red and extremely beautiful. I looked around on wonder, there is so much I haven't seen and I want to catch every detail of this world I live in. Gaara and Temari stayed by my sides and pointed out things I had questions about. Naruto ran ahead and Kankuro was forced to follow him to keep him out of trouble that his loud mouth and inability to filter his words would inevitably cause. People watched as we walked through the town, many still cowered away from Gaara but I noticed a few people being more comfortable and sending kind but wary smiles our way, probably more from there being an outsider over anything else.

"Hinata-san, you're already a Jonin. It is less surprising after I watched how skilled you are, but I want to know how you became so strong? It's almost unnatural." Temari asked truly interested in figuring it out so she could hopefully do the same. She was so much nicer than when we first met, she's no longer as disinterested. It also seems like this is going to be an interrogation to determine if I am worthy to be friends with her and her precious brother. Honestly, she's kind of intimidating as a person, I know I'm stronger but she is really a badass girl who I know can kick some serious ass, especially with her fan.

"Honestly, it's because I've trained nonstop almost everyday since I was able to walk. I didn't have many friends and my father was a harsh trainer so i I trained until I couldn't stand up anymore. I bugged the best of the best and forced each of them to train me as well as training myself based off of any ideas I come up with. It's thanks to those who helped me that I even became half as strong as I am." She seemed pleased with my answer and kept walking. We reached the Kazekage tower and Naruto and I gaped at the size of it. It was tall like the Hokage tower but it was also massive in length and was impossible to miss the importance of the building. They really aren't humble when showcasing where the Kazekage and their family lives.

"Whoa it's huge dattebayo! Do you really live here Gaara?"

"Hai. Temari-chan, Kankuro-kun, and I live here."

"Thats so cool dattebayo! This is way bigger than my flat. This is bigger than where Hina-chan and Teme live too!" Naruto shouted with enthusiasm, not at all jealous of his friends fortune and dope living space.

"Panda-kun, are we staying here with you guys?" I asked, it was surely big enough and I don't really know where we will sleep. Gaara had a small smile on his face but heart thumped nervously that we wouldn't be satisfied.

"If that is alright with you both. I have made arrangements for your rooms to be set up hopefully to your liking." I could see the slight nervousness of him not really knowing how to accommodate guests so I took his hand and gave it a small squeeze.

"I was hoping you'd say yes. This is going to be like one giant sleepover!" I grinned, using my free hand to punch the air. Naruto was wide eyed and grinning like a fox, shouting about how cool it will be and how Gaara is way to cool. We went inside and Gaara showed us to our rooms to put our stuff down and see if it is acceptable. He opened my door for me and my jaw dropped. The room was large and the walls were painted the same color as my eyes. The decorations were purple as well but there was a red blanket on the futon and red accents everywhere. It shouldn't have worked but it did and was so cool. Everything was perfect and I loved the entire room, it had to have taken forever for him to get me things I like and in colors that fit well with my favorite colors being red and purple. The letters I wrote to Gaara, he got all the information rom there and built my room accordingly. It might have been the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me and i was left speechless as my eyes went over every inch of the room. Gaara took that as a bad sign and was a bot let down.

"I apologize that it is not to your liking, I can have it fixed." I was brought out of my stupor and shook my hands wildly then glomping him, patting his head, then giving him a kiss on his cheek.

"Are you fucking kidding me, this is perfect. it's more than perfect. This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, I can't believe you remembered everything I wrote in the letters and made my room to match. This is amazing, you're so amazing I cannot believe I'm friends with a dude as cool as you. Damn it, not I've gotta step up my game." Gaara's worry melted away and he was shocked at my positive words. His face took on a light pink hue and he let out a sigh of relief that I was so happy about my room. Temari gave me a more suitable outfit to walk around the sand in, it was a dress and scarf similar to hers but in black and red, so i could be comfortable and protected from the sand and cold night weather. Naruto was bugging Kankuro for a rematch so they took off. I grabbed Gaara's hand in my own and pulled him out the door.

"Come on, you have to show me your favorite places to eat." Gaara began to lead me a different direction, never letting go of my hand. We'd pass by places and people would whisper while pointing at us but Gaara did nothing. I don;t think he realized what holding my hand looked like, but I never let go because he seemed to enjoy the feeling of our intertwined hands. He gave me brief explanations of more places we walked by until we made it to a small restaurant. We were seated by a nice old lady and Gaara explained how this was a place Yashamaru took him as a kid and was one of the only places that didn't shun him and treat him like a monster. it was like Naruto's Ichiraku ramen but for salted tongue.

"A Gaara my boy is this lovely young lady your girlfriend?"

"No/Yes" we responded at the same time. The lady chuckled in amusement and left our water on the table. Gaara's eyes drooped a bit and he looked so hurt, that pained look of being hated filled his eyes again.

"You, you don't think of us as friends? I thought-" I realized what he thought and how his life in isolation and murder really made him so naive to the outside world. The look on his face hurt and I hated it.

"No no no no. We ARE friends, calling someone your girlfriend or boyfriend is more of a term of calling them your lover. She meant it in the romantic sense, not the friendship sense. I promise, you are my friend and I will always be your friend." I clarified quick;y, laughing a bit at the pure adorableness that is Gaara. He is a legendary shinobi but knows next to nothing about relationships and it is so funny.

"Oh, I understand now. Thank you. May I ask more questions? You promised to tell me things when we were finally together again." He was straightforward but shy about his questions, I answered each of them to the best of my ability. We finished eating and walked around together yet again, this time the sun was setting and the temperature dropped. It was getting cold so Gaara took us back to his tower. I put on pants and a shirt and grabbed a blanket and we headed to the roof. It was still freezing but Gaara wasn't phased in the slightest. I was shaking even under the blanket, but the sunset was so beautiful from this spot on the roof that I did not want to leave.

We watched shinobi and citizens alike walking through the village headed home or going out to dinner. It was peaceful and nice to watch the people we aim to protect doing their normal business. Gaara looked so content with watching the people he used to hate, he looked so determined to protect them he really is going to be the best Kazekage for these people. Gone was the murderous, psychotic, lonely boy from the Chunin exams. Before me was a boy turning into a man, one with a noble dream and the power to make it happen. He really is amazing, to be able to want to protect those who did nothing but hurt him. Gaara's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion and intensity as he stared down at something trying to figure it out. I followed his vision to an elderly couple having a picnic nearby. The man was feeding her strawberries and every once and awhile, they would give sweet lasting pecks to one another. They really lasted through the ages and were a perfect example of love, even into their old age they acted like newly weds. I've never been the one for goopy romance, movies and otherwise. I never understood what love was, it seemed so fake and unrealistic especially to only love one person forever, but this was really cute and it kind of seemed like what a soulmate would look like.

"I don't understand what they are doing. Why are they acting like that?" Gaara finally spoke up, his voice low and full of his confusion.

"They are on a date."

"Oh, Temari gave me a book about that." I turned away and tried to suppress my laughs at how dorky that sounded.

"But why are they on a date and kissing with their mouthes together." I couldn't hold in my laughter this time and let out small giggles.

"They are on a date because they are in love with each other. They are kissing like that because thats how you kiss somebody you like as more than a friend. They are in love and they are expressing it by kissing with their mouthes. People don't always just kiss one another's cheeks and foreheads." Gaara looked more intrigued and even more confused at my explanation.

"What is love?" He asked, still not understanding.

"Damn, you just go right into it. That's a loaded question. There is more than one type of love. There is love for a food or an object which is just surface love. There is love for something like a pet. Then there is love for other people, this one is complicated and I'm not really sure how to explain it. I think that when you love someone you are willing to do whatever it takes to protect them and make them feel better. You want to be with them, and even when you're mad at one another you know you have to make up. It's love that you know you need them in your life and are willing to do whatever it takes to keep them in your life, even if it is just in memory. I didn't understand this type of love for a long time, I never felt love until my parents and my best friend Itachi showed me what love felt like. My family, my friends, my teammates, my mentors, even people who I haven't met yet. I love them dearly. Then there is being in love with somebody, I don't know how to explain that. I've never been in love and don't really know what being in love would even look like. For the longest time I never thought it existed, I am still not sure what being in love would really entail. That old couple seems to be in love, but I don't know how to tell you what being in love would feel like." Gaara seemed deep in thought for the longest time, still watching the old couple.

"I think I understand now. The people I love are few, but I now understand the feelings I have for them. I love the people of my village, I love my siblings, I love Naruto, and I love you. You promised to show me love and you did. I thank you for that Hinata-chan. I also think you are wrong. I may not understand being in love, but I believe it is real, it is possible. Not believing seems bleak, something I don't want to accept. Everyone who is like those old people, that is a love I want to believe is possible." I stared in wonder at Gaara. His words were so honest and powerful, he really believed in what he said. He never felt love of any kind, he still doesn't fully understand but is so firm in his belief that a world without love is not one he wants to be apart of. Putting it that way I understand, I guess I don't want to believe that falling in love isn't possible, even in the world of child assassins, love is something to keep us going.

"You really have a way with words don't you Panda-kun?" I shivered at a gust of cold wind and Gaara allowed me to press against his side for heat. I pat his head and thanked him. Neither of us wanted to go inside because of the beauty of the night sky. After a while, I went to my room to sleep. I prepared everything for tomorrow and fell asleep with my thoughts on the meeting with the Suna higher ups and re-building the alliance they destroyed.

—

The meeting was between Naruto, the main leaders of clans in Suna, the elders, and surprisingly Gaara. They announced to us that Gaara is going to be announced as the new Kazekage in 2 months time so he also has to agree to the alliance terms and conditions since he will be leader. Naruto lost his shit at that, I was overly excited for Gaara but I already knew he was becoming Kazekage. He hid it from Naruto as a surprise to tell him how inspired he became from Naruto's resolve and that it made him want to follow in his footsteps. Naruto was so excited and Gaara becoming a Kage faster than him juts pushed his determination into overdrive so he can hurry the hell up and not keep being out shined. It took them a while for everyone to accept that although Naruto and I are young, we are not stupid and have the best interests of the Villages at heart. When the terms were gone over and agreed upon by all parties, save for some assholes who everyone ignored anyways, we signed the treaty and formed a solid alliance once again. It was stressful and intense but a good example of what actually happens leading a clan and being a Kage. it was good real-world experience for Naruto, Gaara, and I.

After the meeting, we decided to find out Gaara's favorite things. First was his favorite color.

"It should be orange dattebayo!"

"No." Gaara shot it down quickly and Naruto was crushed.

"What about red? You seem to wear it a lot."

"No, it reminds me of the crimes I committed." I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly at his response. After a while of arguments and decisions Gaara decided on purple even though Naruto and I were both confused on the color. He explained that it symbolized royalty which reminds him of his goal as Kazekage, to not be a tyrant, and of somebody who changed his life for the better. We accepted it and went on to finding his favorite desserts, drinks, and other things. Finding his favorite drink was my favorite one because I like to try drinks more than I like to eat and if I could only have drinks for the rest of my life, I probably would. We tried like 30 different drinks and I decided that fruit juices and smoothies were still my favorites of everything. Gaara decided that milkshakes were his favorite drinks. For someone so hardcore, he really likes sweets, especially cookies.

We also went to the town that was only 10 minutes outside the village and played some festival games. The most frustrating was the fish game. Trying to catch a fish with a wet sheet of paper was almost impossible and required a delicate touch Naruto did not possess. I had the delicacy for it but not the timing and always took to long. Gaara on the other hand managed to catch fish after fish, giving both Naruto and I our own 2 fish. I named mine Spider-Man and Kid Flash. Naruto named his Menma and Miso. Gaara let me name his Red Hood and Deadpool. They have no idea who they are, but Gaara did not protest about me naming the fish after some of my favorite superheroes. We played some other carnival games and any of the ones that required any type of ninja skills we dominated. I gave all of my toys except my fish and a toy lion (to give to Hide when I get back home) to any of the kids I could find.

Gaara even ended up cracking some jokes, even if he didn't really mean them to be funny. He had this silent kind of humor that if you really listened to it, you'd crack up. I thought Gaara was shy, but in reality he just chose his words carefully as to not insult people and to not show that he was confused about some social interactions. The world of not trying to murder everyone was still new for him. Gaara also was such a ladies man without even trying, the people who didn't know who he was or girls who were no longer afraid of him swooned at a distance and it was so funny to see the Suna version of Itachi, he'd be too kind to push them off but super uncomfortable and find the best way to leave quickly. Gaara was also a touch whore, he liked physical contact a lot as long as he knew when it was coming and if it was coming from me, it reminded me of a puppy. There was also a time when Gaara fed me. He saw a couple feeding one another and when we went to a Dango shop, he fed me Dango and explained how he saw other people do it together. I explained why people did it and he just shrugged, continuing to feed me saying it was kind of fun.

We returned to Gaara's home for our last nigh there and he had Temari prepare all of Naruto and I's favorite dishes that we wrote him about. He really was a sweetheart and set up everything and more to make sure we had fun together with the limited time we had face to face. Temari and I also had a spar that was extremely fun. We solely used hand to hand combat and Temari was surprisingly good at it for a distance fighter. We became fast friends as we talked with our fists. She's pretty funny too and doesn't focus as much on girly things which was nice to talk about other things. She's also a killer chef. Kankuro is still a dick, but he's a fun dick. He and Naruto became surprisingly good friends and he and I have a love-hate relationship which brings me joy to make fun of each other. He really hates being called a kitty and can use his chakra strings to manipulate people. I learned the hard way when he made me punch myself in the face.

It was morning and time to say goodbye. Temari and I promised to have a girls night out sometime and Kankuro promised to teach me how to use chakra strings as well as preparing to kick my ass for calling him kitty. I turned to Gaara and for the first time, his sand pushed me into him and he initiated a hug. Before I could pull away, he kissed my forehead and thanked me for my help in his understanding of people and being his friend.

"Goodbye Gaara-kun. Thank you for everything, you truly an amazing person and opened my eyes to something I never thought I'd see. I love you and promise to keep writing if you will too."

"I promise, goodbye my Hinata-chan." I pat his head one more time ran off, following Naruto's blonde head of hair. My heart was as happy as can be and I was oblivious to the monstrosity that was to come.

—

_(3d POV) when Naruto and Hinata left_

Kankuro and Temari wore matching smirks as they watched Gaara follow Hinata's retreating form. Gaara yet again had a small smile on his face. He realized the stares from his siblings and turned to face them, his face back to being stoic. He tilted his head in question.

"Why are you looking at me like that." Temari spoke up first.

"You are so into her." She teased out, excited that her baby brother has his first crush and doesn't even know it.

"Dude, you totally kissed her! That was so bold." Kankuro exclaimed with pure enthusiasm, his smirk still there at the ballsiness of his brother. He was shocked that the naive brother of his would even know to kiss a girl, even if it was on her forehead.

"Plenty of people kiss one another to show they love one another. Uncle Yashamaru used to kiss my head like that too."

"The way you did it seemed like you were in love with her." Kankuro explained, gasping for breath as he laughed at the redhead. Only Gaara would kiss a girl his age like that and think it meant nothing. He and Temari laughed harder when the stultified face of his brother began to turn red in understanding as he remembered more of Hinata's explanations of couple actions and romantic gestures. He understood then and there that he had a crush on Hinata and he basically announced it to her even if he didn't realize he liked her at the time.

"Oh." Was all the boy was able to get out before he turned into sand and went to go train.


	15. Shatterpoint

"Hinata Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara, Sasuke Uchiha, Choji Akemichi, Naruto Uzumaki, Ino Yamanaka, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Your mission is to be led by Jonin Hinata Hyuga and Chunin Shikamaru Nara. Hinata will lead of Sasuke, Naruto, and Kiba. Shikamaru will lead Choji, Ino, and Shino. Is this clear?"

"**YES**" We all chorused standing in front of Tsunade.

"Your mission is recon, you are to track and retrieve information on the missing Leaf kunoichi Sakura Haruno. Find out as much information as possible so we can send in a team to eliminate the threat. This is recon only." She sent a pointed look to Naruto. "That means you will do your best to stay undetected, do not engage in combat unless absolutely necessary. Do not fail this mission and all of you brats better come back in one piece. Scatter!" We flashed out of her office and began our journey, Kiba and my squad tracking one of the scents of his teammate, Shino and his squad tracking the other. I never in my mind thought Sakura would go rogue, I knew she harbored deep rooted issues but I didn't know that my meddling and changing the team lineup would have such a negative affect on Sakura. Instead of Sasuke leaving to Orochimaru, Sakura did. I don't know why but I know it's my fault. If I wasn't here this would have never happened. This mission, if we find her, I want to convince her to come back or at least find out why she betrayed her home.

—

"KIBA DUCK!" Akamaru jumped in Kiba's way, taking the full blunt of the fireball that was meant for Kiba. He let out a whimper and went limp. Naruto retaliated instantly and used the last of this chakra represent seals to take the guy out. Sasuke had Naruto's back and knocked out the humanoid like creature that was aiming for Naruto.

"You BASTARDS hurt Akamaru I'm going to rip all of you to shreds!" Kiba yelled out, his voice feral and shaking. He was pissed and the killing intent he was letting off was so potent it rivaled Kakashi's. His mind went blank as he got down on all fours and began shredding through the enemy as Akamaru lay steaming on the ground, little whimpers being the only indicator that he's alive.

My first mission leading as a Jonin without Kakashi was not supposed to go this way. it was a simple recon but Kami forbid that something goes well for us. Our trail went cold which means Shikamaru's squad hopefully found Sakura's whereabouts, so as we were taking layout of the land and searching for why her scent led to this area, we were caught in an ambush. The chakra of the people attaching us was so animalistic in Nature Kiba and Akamaru deduced it as that, leaving me no need to use chakra on my Byakugan for the moment. It was a dumb mistake that I'm paying for. The ambush was instant and Sasuke took a Kunai to the shoulder protecting Naruto's back. After that all hell broke loose. The attackers were not normal, they were henchman of Orochimaru and they all were upgraded with the curse mark that made their minds unstable and they only knew to attack and aim for the kill. There were hundreds of them and they made up for their lack of brains with their inhuman strength. Each person I took down it seemed that two more replaced him. They were here for Sasuke and no way in hell was I going to let that happen.

Kiba was wild and not moving in any particular fashion, his vision was red and he was more reckless than usual. Somehow they managed to separate Naruto and Sasuke from Kiba and I which was not good, we needed to reconnect as soon as possible but Kiba was not listening to reason and I couldn't leave him here alone. Naruto and Sasuke were strong enough to stay safe, I'm betting on it. Trying to protect everyone was proving difficult and with the amount of jutsu's I've used in the past few hours, my chakra is running dangerously low. I received a blow to the head that was also making my vision hazy and more difficult to make clear decisions. The glint of a Kunai showed itself aiming at Akamaru and before they could react, I flashed over, grabbing the kunai and throwing it back the direction it came. It made contact by the outraged cry that escaped someone's lips. With the distraction of the Kunai, I failed to see the senbon hidden in the shadow and it pierced my forearm. I pulled it out and picked Akamaru up and with one hand began to focus on healing him while making sure Kiba was not in too much danger. After the wound was no longer too dangerous, I laid Akamaru down and rejoined the battle.

My heart began to beat at an irregular pattern and blood was dripping out of my eyes like tears. I realized the purpose of the senbon too late: poison. There was no way I was going to make it out of this, my medical skills were still not good enough to remove the poison from my system fast enough to counteract it's effects and if I go down, they would take Kiba down too. I'm banking on Orochimaru still not wanting to kill me so I can pull out a final move and either win or get captured. I have to let Kiba escape and get the treatment his wounds need. He's running on pure adrenaline now and wont be able to fight for long either.

"Kiba Akamaru is fine, he's safe. Get the hell out of here and go find Naruto and Sasuke. Leave this to me!" he snapped out of his trance and looked at his partner in crime, then to me in horror at my appearance.

"No way idiot, I'm not leaving you here."

"This is an order from your superior, not your friend. Get your ass out of here now, I'm right behind you!" I snapped at him, all sense of kindness leaving my voice. He knew I was serious and so he picked up Akamaru and gave me one last glance.

"Don't you dare die on me, I'll kill you myself if that happens. I already lost Sakura, I'm not losing you too." I gave a bloodied smirk and he disappeared from my sight.

"I've been meaning to try this out for a while, now's a good a time as any! You fuckers will make perfect practice." I activated my Byakugan once again and made the series of hand signs, pulling the Hydrogen and Oxygen molecules in the air to form into water as I pumped the remaining reserves of Chakra into my final jutsu. The water encased me and I watched my Chakra flow through the water molding it into the shaky form of a Lion's head. I pushed my chakra into it to control the movements and electrified the water around me, shocking me slightly but nothing compared to what I have in store. Black dots danced across my bloodied vision and the poison was taking more effect. I ignored the burning of my insides from chakra strain and the intense pain of the drug and kept pushing. The water raised me off the ground and I completed the last hand sign.

"Lions Roar!" A loud roar echoed across the area and the lion crashed into the opponents around me, hitting with such an intense pressure to kill those it hit directly and the extra spray of water acting as a conductor for the lightning to send a large dose of electricity to the rest. Everyone went down and I crashed to the ground in a panting mess. My body was heavy and I could barely hold an eyelid open as I lay face down into the muddied ground around me and coughed up blood.

I let out a sigh of relief that I'd managed to semi-pull off an armored jutsu I had been creating to help me match up to the power of the Susanoo and Kyuubi cloak. My vision was blurred and a form was coming back. I thought it was one of my team members but the obnoxious slow clapping said otherwise. My vision faded completely along with the rest of my strength, I was pushing myself to stay awake at this point.

"That was marvelous, to create such a powerful jutsu that took out my best men in one hit. You really are something special little Hyuga. But look at your pitiful state now, come with me and I will give you more power. Don't worry, when Sasuke-kun realized you've joined me he will come running too. Together we will be all powerful."

"F-f-fuck you snake bastard. Sasuke's (ugh) he's not an ob-object."

"So be it." He let out a devious chuckle and a pressure hit the base of my neck and I was out completely.

_(3d Pov)\_

Sasuke, Naruto, and Kiba finished off the rest of their opponents and ran to where Hinata was seen last. The scene they were met with was gruesome. There were craters from punches and attack, bodies lay strewn about with their limbs twisted in unnatural angles and their muscles spasming from the mass electrical surge. The only thing they were thinking was "what the hell happened here." That was until they noticed there was a small pool of blood with the outline of a body but nothing there. Kiba smelt the blood and grimaced at the familiar scent of his best friend. Sasuke and Naruto new from the look in his eyes who made that dent in the ground. They all looked around frantically but new in their hearts that Hinata was gone. There were footprints leading to and away from her body, they were too big to be hers and each knew she had been kidnapped.

Sasuke was first to act, he grabbed Kiba by his fur coat and pinned him up against a tree, his 3 tomoe Sharingan spinning threateningly.

"You did this, this is all your fault. If you hadn't left her she'd be fine. She'd be in my arms right now safe, not heading to Kami knows where because you are such a fuck up. It should have been you! Not her, you Kiba!" Sasuke was yelling out his frustrations, putting the blame on Kiba even though he felt the blame was on him just as much. Kiba did nothing to stop it. He agreed with everything, it was his fault. If he hadn't left his best friend alone, if he'd disobeyed her orders than she'd be fine and he'd be the one possibly dead. Naruto was pushing down the fox that was threatening to come out. His elongated nails were pushing into his palms and when Sasuke prepared to throw another punch, he stepped in, gripping Sasuke's fist tightly.

"Stop. This is not one person's fault, it is all of ours so stop. Hinata-chan is strong, stronger than all of us. We're going to get her back. We're going to get her back I promise. Dammit, we're going to take her back!" Naruto had fire burning in his eyes, his determination gave hope to Sasuke and Kiba, if anyone would be able to save her it would be them. No matter what. With guilt and an overwhelming desire to save their comrade, the trio left to meet back with Shikamaru's squad. They knew that if anyone could make a solid plan, it would be the lazy genius. The reunited classmates returned to the village and the looks on their faces and the battered bodies of Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, and Akamaru as well as the absence of a familiar blue haired girl altered the gate guards that the mission went awry and she was missing, if not worse.

The news of Hinata's kidnapping spread like wildfire and the wails of Hanabi echoed throughout the village. ANBU went back to the crime scene and determined Hinata was in Orochimaru's clutches, the fears of Kakashi, Tsunade, Zabuza, and Hiashi came to fruition. He needed her for something despicable and Hinata needed to be rescued sooner rather than later, at his mercy he will do his best to break the young girl. Tsunade prepared a squad of elites stationed in the village: Hiashi, Kakashi, Zabuza, and Shino with the plan planned out to a T under the guidance of Shikaku and Shikamaru. The rest of the Konoha 11 were not aloud to join the mission because of their overemotional states, none of the were thinking clearly and all of them were pissed to not be able to help. So, Shikamaru played double agent and gave information to the Konoha 11 plus Gaara to go on the rescue mission as well, just hidden in the shadows and as backup to step in when things go bad. And knowing it has to do with Orochimaru, things will always go bad. Sasuke was the worst off, he knew what the snake man was after, him. He was willing to trade himself for Hinata, give up his body so she can keep hers. He was on a team, but he was also on a solo mission that he thinks nobody knows about. After weeks of planning and scouting, they found her location and everything was ready to be set into motion.

—

_(Hinata POV)_

Pain, thats all I could feel as my senses began to come back. I opened my eyes and the area around me was lit with a faint glow of artificial light dancing across the wetness of the dark grey rock. It was eerily silent save for the drip of water that hit against the floor next to me every few seconds. I couldn't move the only feelings I had were of the cold shackles rubbing against the raw skin of my wrists and ankles, the constant draining of my chakra, and the pain. It was no longer a dull throb but a burning fire coursing through my veins. Each breath rattled in my chest, the obvious signs of broken ribs. My foot was twisted at an odd angle as well: dislocated. I don't know where I am, the last thing my foggy memory could piece together was Kiba's retreating from. What the hell did I do to end up in such a pitiful state. How long have I been gone, where the fuck am I. My gut twisted and I knew whatever I was in for, it wouldn't be good.

The light of the cave brightened up and I was finally able to make out where I was, not a cave but a cell. The barred cell door was unlocked and Orochimaru walked in licking his lips. He was followed by Kabuto sporting a lecherous grin, and limping slightly and the clank of a metal limb was coming from him.

"You've finally awoken my sweet little Hyuga. Is everything to your liking?" Orochimaru's deep voice laughed out at his version of a joke. I couldn't open my mouth to say anything back. "Kabuto, you know what to do."

"Yes my lord." Kabuto knelt down next to me but I had no power to move away. He pulled me into his lap and began to heal me. His chakra was as soothing as the first time, cooling and comforting. It made me uneasy that he was able to manipulate his chakra in such a way to make it feel so calming, it took away all of my nerves which made me more wary. The blood that was still dripping down my head stopped and the rest of my major injuries hurt a hell of a lot less. The blood blocking off my throat was cleared. The small amount of my chakra began to leave my body and mix with Kabuto's. He groaned in pleasure moaning about how my chakra is addicting. It sent shivers down my spine, but the intense feeling of his chakra overpowered it and kept flowing to relax me as fast as I tensed up. **(A/n remember Kabuto is a chakra whore for some reason, like a vampire with blood.)**

"W-what the hell do you want with m-me." My hoarse and shaking voice spoke out.

"I want 3 things from you, and in return I will do 3 things for you." His yellow eyes peirced into my soul as he spoke out his next words. "You have more information than I was even able to acquire. I am after ultimate knowledge and I want to know what you know and how you know it. Kabuto informed me of your knowledge on my old partner Sasori, you knew he was a spy even before I did. Tell me how you gained this information and I will give you the power you desire. I see it in your eyes, the intense craving for strength, for power. I will give it to you." He waited for my reaction but I gave none, it was still processing and my body was still in too much pain to really respond. He clicked his tongue in annoyance but continued on anyways. "I want Sasuke Uchiha's eyes. The legendary Shairingan. With those eyes I will have every juts in my arsenal. You and Sasuke are close, the darkness in his heart was counteracted by you and the 9-tails. If I have you, Sasuke will come and then I can have his body and your mind. You bring the Uchiha to me and stay by my side and I will make sure no one you love will die. I'll even bring your lovely mother back to you. And last, I want to destroy the hidden leaf village and the bastards of the Akatsuki. With the Sharingan and you by my side it will be easy and we wont fail. You willingly join me and my conquest I will give you everything you desire in the new chaotic world of mine. With ultimate power and knowledge, what you wish I will give."

His argument was sound, he's right I do desire power, more so than I'd like to admit. I'm not that far off from Orochimaru but my ultimate goals are opposing his and there is no way in hell I'd give to him like that. Sasuke is not somebody to just take, he's my Sasuke and no way would I let him or anyone else take him from me. The village he wants to destroy is the one I'm trying to protect, the Akatsuki are also on my list. They deserve better and I'm going to fight for them, to give them a better chance at life and if he's standing in my way of that, I will stop trying to save him. At this rate it seems like he is too far gone.

"Fuck you." I rasped out as my eyes glared into his golden ones. The healing from Kabuto ceased and the pain flooded back in. I gasped in pain and blacked out again.

"If you wont willingly concede to me, there are other methods. I don't care what it takes. Kabuto you know what to do, bring her in and get to work. Break her body, her mind. Do whatever it takes to get the information I desire. Then when that is complete, make her give in to me, to give in to the bloodlust she is holding back. I want my weapon."

—

_(3d person POV) _**Warning: This will be graphic descriptions of torture mentally and physically so skip this if you can't handle it!**

The blue haired girl blinked open her lavender eyes, scanning the area around her in slight worry. Her thoughts were racing when she realized she was in strapped to a chair in a sterile room filled with different weapons and medical supplies. The room was bright with white light and she looked in a mirror at her disheveled form.

She was stripped down to the bare minimum to cover herself. Her usually beautiful face was swollen and bruised with blood caked on from when it poured out of her eyes and mouth. Her hair was matted with blood and her eyes which were normally vibrant were dull and sunken in from the week of not eating. Her cheeks were hollow and beginning to fit the look of a skeleton. Her eyes filled with panic at the sight of when she finally realized she was looking in a mirror at herself and not some random girl. Her breathing was ragged and her emaciated state made her look younger than her 13 year old self. Bruises and cuts were stretched across her thinning toned stomach and legs. There was a small puncture wound on her thigh, but the blood had clotted leaving the dark purple trail of blood trailing down her leg. She grit her teeth as the door opened, she prepared something snarky to say to mask the terror she was feeling but all of her thoughts disappeared as the person came into view.

A girl of 14 with short pink hair and emerald eyes stepped into view wearing the traditional attire of a follower of Orochimaru. Her green eyes seemed to glow with a look of pure hatred and sadistic joy at seeing the girl she had spent so much time hating in such a shitty condition. Hinata let out a shaky sigh as she saw her old friend looking so evil. She didn't understand, was Sakura there to get her out. If she was any less naive she would have believed it, but the pure unbridled hatred that Saukra carried, and the fact that she was a missing ninja answered her questions for her. Sakura was not there for any friendly means. The emotions she had been suppressing on the aspect of her former pink haired friend welled up and with teary eyes and a broken voice, Hinata finally spoke.

"Sakura… why." The question was vague but Sakura was no idiot. Her red lined lips twitched up in a smirk that was so full of malice and the intent of pain. She let out a laugh and stared Hinata down, not afraid of the strong girl who was so weak at the moment.

"Why, I did this because of _you_. I hate you, I hate everything about you. You stole everything from me, Sasuke-kun is mine. I should have been on his team, not you. I was supposed to get stronger alongside him, to see him everyday and have him talk to me. He is supposed to love me, I'll give him everything. You're just a pretty face that has nothing going for you, you are not good, you are just a thief. Sasuke-kun needs a lady who is strong but a lady he can protect, who will give him children. You're not worthy enough to be anywhere near him. Lord Orochimaru knows this is the truth and recognized my talent. I will follow Lord Orochimaru wherever as long as it means Sasuke-kun will be mine. He promised me that my Sasuke-kun would come to him, and I will be right here too by his side as we laugh over your broken body. Sasuke will forget all about you and finally realize his love for me. Luck for me, I am one of the ones who get's to break oh-so-strong Hinata. If I'm lucky, when I'm done with you, you'll keel over and die." She sneered at Hinata, her evil laugh echoing through the room. The words processed in the Hyuga's head and she felt pain, not for herself but for Sakura. She felt guilty that Sakura's words had truth, Hinata did take Sakura's place on Team 7. She was there to reach her goals but Hinata thinks Sakura may be right in thinking that Hinata was just being selfish.

Hinata was silent and Sakura took it as a sign of defeat, her acceptance that she was nothing more than scum and deserving her death. The pink rogue's mind was clouded with her supposed love for Sasuke and when Orochimaru noticed this, he manipulated the girl with empty, sweet promises of Saskue being hers if she follows him and puts her exceptional Genjutsu skills to benefit Orochimaru. What better way to break Hinata and get her to spill her secrets and make her a mindless, bloodlust filled drone for Orochimaru's than by using her friends against her. Flip the tables and make her dreams and ideals seem selfish until she gives up. Finally, the lavender eyed girl controlled her thoughts, wanting to not upset Sakura more in this tense situation.

"You- you might be right. I am selfish, I am a liar. I cant deny it, but that is my job as a kunoichi to be that way. The one thing you're wrong about is Orochimaru. Sakura, Orochimaru is using you, he doesn't ever plan to bring you and Sasuke together, he wants to kill Sasuke and take his body. If you love him as much as you say you do, you'd realize this and let me go. Together we can stop Orochimaru and keep Sasuke safe." Sakura slapped Hinata across her bruised face, the force snapping her head to the side. Her shrill voice rang out in fury.

"You dumb bitch, I'm not dumb enough to fall for a trick like that. Why would I believe such a crazy story from a lying bitch like you when I know the truth, Sasuke-kun loves me and is stuck with you but soon, he'll accept his desires. Lord Orochimaru promised me Sasuke-kun would come to him, to me, none of your lies will sway me from the truth."

"Sakura _please _listen to me!" Hinata begged out which resulted in her being met with another forceful slap. Sakura walked out of the room when she sensed Kabuto returning. Hinata had her eyes downcast, she was furious that Orochimaru was able to manipulate Sakura like that. Furious that Sakura was so hateful. Furious at the situation she was stuck in for what seemed like forever. Kabuto walked back in, the clink of his metal leg being the only sound aside from the ragged breathing of the hungry girl.

All of the pain inside of her was pushed aside as she yanked against her chains, pulling herself to attack Kabuto. Shouting at him for lying to Sakura for their own personal game. Screaming to be set free. Kabuto placed his hand over her mouth and tightened her binds around her body more, leaving no room for movement. Kabuto intertwined their chakra for a bit, getting his fix of the otherworldly chakra Hinata possesses before he was ready.

"Now now little lion. I will only let you go when you give Orochimaru what he wants. Are you ready to talk yet?"

"Go to hell you psycho!" She spat out angrily, not knowing the repercussions of her actions.

"I was afraid it would come to this. If starving you wasn't enough, it's time to up the ante. The longer you don't talk the more I torture you. The problem is I don't want your precious mind breaking just yet, I need information first so until you decide to tell me what I need to know, the only thing you will be saying is a countdown from 1000 by 7. The more you focus on that, the longer you stay sane. I'll end everything as soon as you talk. Let's start shall we." Kabuto placed a while lab coat on and picked up the scalpel on the tray beside Hinata. She looked up at him with narrowed eyes, egging him to do his worst. He pushed the glasses back up the bridge of his nose ran the scalpel deeply along her forearm watching in sadistic glee as the red blood slowly trickled out of the wound. Hinata started her count back from a thousand while doing her best to keep her voice even to not show any pain. The only sign of her struggle was the tense jaw and lone tear escaping her eye. He made a few more incisions on sensitive areas but realized that this was not going to take him anywhere.

"8-867… 8-8-860…853-3." Hinata's hands were gripping the handles of the chair tightly, her knuckles white as paper. He took his hooked kunai, meant for slashing and not stabbing, from the tray and with swiftness of a ninja, jammed it into her hand, pushing the curved blade through until it was stuck in the chair. With his medical prowess, he made sure to hit no vital spots, when healed, there would be no sign of damage except for a scar.

A loud bloodcurdling scream ripped from the girls throat and Kabuto ceased his torture and waited for the cries to subside.

"This will all be over if you tell me what I want to know." His voice was light and sympathetic, contrasting with the blood covering his face and clothes. Hinata gave a pause before glaring up at Kabuto.

"Is that all you have to make me talk? My grandma stabs harder than you and she's dead." She gasped out, her voice tight from pain but the annoyance was there. A bloody smirk was given to aggravate her torturer. She was not giving in to him and he wanted to see how far he'd be able to push her.

"So be it." Kabuto ripped out the blade and stabbed it into the wound healing on her thigh, pushing past the newly reformed tissues deep into the muscle fiber. The sounds of ripping flesh and cries echoing throughout the bace once more.

"Fuck you Voldemort and Harry Potter lovechild." He looked at her confused, not understanding the insult. Usually she was better at pissing people off but the pain was getting to her, making her insults less effective when what she is saying doesn't exist.

"I don't her counting. Start over." Kabuto demanded as he continued his escapade of stabbing and slicing Hinata in places that would leave no lasting damage but was sure to hurt like hell. After she couldn't take any more pain, her head slumped down and she was out cold. Kabuto healed her body to about 50 percent so she was in no danger of blood loss and forced nutrients through a tube into her system.

The next few days went the same, Kabuto using various blades to cut up her body, re-opening wounds to make it more painful as well as digging his fingers into deep punctures to get the blood gushing. Hinata continued her counting, never making it past 587 before she'd pass out or have to start over from screaming and losing count. Not once did she beg for mercy or say anything other than less and less comprehensible insults, she never gave into the pain and forced her mind to focus on her goals, her family, her friends, and her counting to keep from giving in. When Kabuto deemed using blades worthless, he switched over to other methods of pain. He wanted to find her limit, have her beg for mercy, tell all of her secrets and give in. Kabuto wanted Hinata to accept her fate, to give in to the torture and tell them what they need to know. She was nothing more than an addicting chakra fix and pawn for his master.

Kabuto wrapped his hands around her shaking left leg and jammed his fingers between her tibia and fibula, with a grunt of effort he detached the bones from one another. Hinata's scream was louder and more shrill than before. The pain of her bones being broken one by one was slowly breaking her spirit. She kept counting through her screams but soon stopped when Kabuto decided to speak again.

"You know the best part of being medically trained? Each injury I cause, I can heal. I can break your bones over and over but there will be no evidence, I can break your body as much as I want without causing lasting damage. Well, physically at least. I wonder how many times I can snap your legs before you give in or shut down. Which one will come first? This can all end if you tell me what Lord Orochimaru desires?" Hinata's once Lavender eyes were grey and glassy, there was only a small spark of determination left within them.

"573…F-fuck…566…" She continued to count, not having the energy to respond. All of her focus was on the numbers, a way to remove herself from the living hell she was going through. After her bone had been set, Kabuto took to dislocating her shoulder that had finished it's healing from the previous few days. This time her scream lacked its pain, it was more hollow and Kabuto knew he was getting somewhere finally. Her cries died out and her body went slack once again as she gave into the one outlet she had; sleep.

—

"Lord Orochimaru we are getting somewhere. It has been 3 weeks, I think it is time to let Haruno-san have her fun with my Hime. Physical torture will only bring us so far, with Haruno's genjutsu capabilities, the best thing now would be to let her mess with Hinata's brain. Torture her mentally until she is ready to spill. You need to make sure she does not go overboard, her hatred for Hinata may be too strong, we can't have her dying on us."

"Tomorrow then. Haruno will begin her work, as soon as we get somewhere, dispose of Haruno. She is an annoying brat and of no use to me as soon as I have Hinata and her knowledge on my side." Orochimaru licked his lips and shooed his second in command off to work on his test subjects.

"Hai."

—

Sakura skipped in glee into Hinata's room. She was met with a wonderful sight of the girl who she pushed all of her hatred on. The girl who ruined her life and tried to take her soulmate away from her. She took her best friend, her love, even her own teammates liked Hinata more than they ever liked Sakura and now it's time for vengeance. The so called friends and family Hinata loved would show her how worthless she really is, they would turn against her and make her biggest fears come true. Sakura wanted to break Hinata, send her past the precipice of insanity and destroy the girl who tried to take everything.

Hinata was slumped over. Her body was covered in dried blood, too much so to tell the origins of the blood. Her hair had lost it's blue and was now a dark purple/black from the blood that had coated it. The visible skin was purple and green from bruising. Sakura grabbed Hinata's hair and lifted her head to see her face. Her cheeks were hollow and her face was void of emotion, she looked helpless and disgusting but Sakura was still angry. She was still pretty but now less, her beauty was hidden under blood and bruises, she was no longer pretty enough for Sasuke.

Hinata woke up staring into the green eyes of her friend. She smiled a bit, still delirious from the pain as she thought Sakura was there to save her from the tirade of Kabuto. Without wasting a moment, Sakura let her chakra flow out of her body and permeate the air as well as force itself into the brain of the broken girl in front of her. To make sure Hinata would not be able to break out of the Genjutsu, Sakura formed layers. Her first layer was a simple genjutsu of the surroundings to get Hinata caught, then she began to mix and weave the perfect scenarios. Hinata could feel the change and knew she was in a Genjutsu, and as she released it, she was still trapped, There were too many layers and it was distorting so much of reality Hinata could not tell the real from the fake anymore.

Sakura started with bringing Hinata back to the academy and having the childhood bullies, along with Sakura this time, insult Hinata for everything they could. After a while of having Hinata relive some of her more hurtful school moments, Sakura went to the next level. She cast a Genjutsu that made the person see what caused them the most emotional pain. First was her watching her mother die over and over. With the death, each time Sakura would change a detail making it unnoticeable of shifting the memory. Over the next few hours, Sakura changed her mother's death to blaming Hinata for the death. Her mother wailing out for her daughter and then when she was bloody, would blame Hinata for the death saying "You could have saved me." and "It's your fault Hanabi will grow up without a mother." Tears began to pour down Hinata's face unconsciously and Sakura delved deeper, delighted in the first crack in Hinata's mind.

Next she went on to the Uchiha massacre, having Hinata remember the details exactly, Sakura noticed a genjutsu around the memory and she thought it was a blockade to hide traumatic memories so of course she undid it and let the memories flood in. Hinata remembered the massacre, the fight with Obito, the pain, Itachi leaving. Once again, the cold dead bodies of Fugaku and Mikoto emerged from the darkness and pushed all opf the blame on Hinata. 'If she wasn't so selfish and told people of her knowledge from the beginning they wouldn't be dead and so on.' The next crack was complete and Hinata's silent cries turned into loud sobbing, begging for forgiveness and the memories to stop.

Sakura pushed on to the next stage of her specially developed torture genjutsu. This delved into Hinata's brain and found all of her insecurities, guilt, and doubt of herself and manifested them into real situations. The genjutsu's felt so real for Hinata. They had been going on nonstop for days and she was breaking. The fears she had of not doing the right thing with her knowledge, that her hero complex was actually going to make her a villain, that everyone would leave her once again and she'd be alone, that everything she was doing just made things worse for everyone. Each of these deep rooted fears Hinata had came to life. Her friends that she loved and worked hard for either turned their backs on her or she was forced to watch them die while she was helpless. They all blamed her and said they hated her; that their deaths were her fault and if she'd never been born they would have been happier. The people she loved abandoned her and she was alone. It all felt so real, that loneliness that she'd fought so hard to escape came back full force. She watched herself kill her friends and family as she laughed. She watched others kill them. Each scene was different and got harder and harder to get through until finally the glass shattered. The mental and physical torture became too much and Hinata couldn't take anymore. She wouldn't give Orochiamaru anything but she also couldn't keep going. She wanted out, she wanted to die. She believed that everyone she had loved was either dead or wanted her dead, it was game over.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Hinata repeated over and over, stuck in her trance. She cried and screamed and finally gave in. "Please, she begged. Please just kill me. I can't take it anymore I know I ruined everything. I know you hate me so please stop this and KILL ME! END IT I GIVE UP!" The genjutsu was released and Hinata found herself back in the room of hell. She stared into the eyes of Sakura, her own eyes completely lifeless. "Please, just take the pain away." She whispered pleadingly. Sakura was prepared to give Hinata her wish but Kabuto stepped in and made Sakura leave. Hinata's eyes fixed on his form and for the first time in a while, she showed true terror. Her body shook in fear and she whimpered, her eyes wide and scared like a deer caught in headlights. Kabuto stalked to her and asked her to give him answers. She was unresponsive, just saying she's sorry and asking to have the pain go away. He sighed, she was not going anywhere in her mentally and physically broken state. She thought almost everything she loved was gone and had nothing, the only bit of hope and sanity she had left at the moment was the understanding of the silver outline now. She knew it was a genjutsu, all of it, her memories Itachi had created were finally revealed. It wasn't much, it was really nothing. Even with the subconscious knowledge, it felt too real and she was close to her mind shattering into an impossible mess to fix. Even with her understanding, she didn't think she would ever get out. Her blank and lifeless eyes barely noticed as Kabuto heard yelling and rushed out.

_(third person POV)_

Kabuto ran out of the room as Hinata's unresponsive eyes shut as she slumped over and passed out mumbling numbers in variants of 7.

Shino's bugs ate through the chakra barrier around the hideout Pakkun and Shino traced Hinata to. The hideout was inconspicuous and covered in intense genjutsu to the point only the highest levels of Ninja's would be able to see through. There were too many weaves of the intricate jutsu so instead of releasing it bit by bit, Shino has his chakra consuming beetles eat a hole in the barrier. The looks on everyone's faces in this advanced ninja squad were deadly. None of them wanted to accept Hinata is quite possibly dead, nobody wanted to think of the horror she might have endured if she's alive. They all suppressed their feelings like the hardened shinobi they were and only allowed their anger and determination to be seen.

Zabuza's hands were twitching, he was ready to rip apart each and every person he came across to reach the girl who saved him, the one he was supposed to protect. Kakashi's Sharingan was glowing brightly as he continued to sniff for the bluenette's familiar scent. He was not going to let another important person die, he couldn't. Shino was scared for his friend, he knew his part was over and he'd stay behind as backup, but the bugs crawling inside him were moving erratically making him uneasy with the ominous feelings. Hiashi was the worst off, if any of his teammates had been lesser men, they would have shit themselves at the dangerous look in Hiashi's eyes. He was burning in a silent fury that no man would willingly cross. His daughter, his pride was taken from him and as her father, he was going to protect his little girl. He'd failed her once, he was not going to do it again. The killer intent radiating off of Hiashi was almost visible. At this point nobody cared of Orochimaru was a Sanin or a Genin, he could have an army at his disposal but nothing would stop the success of this rescue mission.

Further back, unknown to the elite squad, a few members of the konoha 11 were separated into teams of 2, following Shikamaru's command. Sasuke and Naruto were the frontline, they were the ones to go in and get Hinata if the fighting starts. behind them was squadron 2, Shikamaru and Choji who were there for direction and the possible aid of whoever ends up rescuing the girl. Squadron 3 was off to the left, that consisted of Neji and Tenten who were the defense of the group, they would keep the path clear for Hinata getting a safe escape route for as far as possible. Lee was in recovery alongside Kiba so they were not aloud to join the endeavor.

Shino's bugs made a big enough hole for the squad to slip through, Shino stayed back, his bugs on guard while he hid in wait for the signal to clear a path to leave. A deep, loud yell echoed in the cave and he knew the battle had started. Nartuo's inhuman hearing picked up on the sounds of battle so Shikamaru gave them the signal to move in. If Kakashi, Hiashi, and Zabuza were busy fighting, they would slip by unseen and find their teammate. Naruto and Sasuke used a henge and transformed themselves into people they had fought before the abduction and ran into the cave, going through the same opening Shino had made earlier. They moved through the shadows in silence, keeping their chakra suppressed as well even if it was unnecessary based on all the fighting being focused on Kakashi's squad. They opened each door they found, encountering various people Orochimaru had kept prisoner, but there was still no sign of _her _anywhere.

Zabuza used his executioners blade to the max effect, slicing through anyone who dared to come close to him. Each swing brought him deeper into the hideout and he was still at a loss, finding only empty rooms on his journey. Hiashi had the same luck, he spared no mercy and without batting an eye, killed anyone in the vicinity of him. It wasn't enough for him, he wanted them all dead. He growled in frustration when Orochimaru didn't bother to show his face, he kidnaps his daughter and yet is too much of a coward to face them. Hiashi wanted blood, Orochimaru's blood on his hands, he wanted to break the man over and over until there was nothing left. Kakashi was fighting madly, his brain was clouded in flashbacks of his comrades deaths, he tried but failed at not letting his mind revert to the dark place it had finally emerged from. He was no longer Kakashi-sensei, at the moment he fully embraced his title of cold-blooded Kakashi and struck down everyone with a swift and merciless manner to the point that his opponents began to flee. Kakashi stopped searching fro Hinata, he convinced himself she was dead and he was getting revenge, that was until the familiar scent of her blood invaded his nose. It was faint, extremely so, but it was still relatively fresh smelling so it could have only been there in the last few days. He pushed down his darkness and for the last time, let the little ray of hope that she was alive burn inside him.

"Found it!" Kakashi summoned 2 of his best ninken fighters and had them go to Zabuza and Hiashi to get them to follow him to where Hinata was. They reacted quickly and changed their course of slaughter to reach the girl who had been missing for a month.

Sasuke and Naruto were alone so they dropped the henge and focused on moving faster to find Hinata. They caught a break in the most unlikely of ways when Naruto was shoved to the side and a body latched onto Sasuke.

"Ohh Sasuke-kun I knew you'd come for me! Lord Orochimaru was right, you our love knows no bounds. I even took care of that little hurdle that was putting a strain in our love, now you will finally realize your love for _me!_" The pink pawn of Orochimaru squealed into her love's ear, rubbing her face against his arm as she spoke. Naruto sat back up and looked extremely confused.

"Huh, what are you talking about Sakura? Why are you following a bastard like Orochimaru, you do know he Hurt Hina-chan right? Come help us find her, we can all go home together dattebayo." The blushing girl's eyes narrowed at the name, but a smirk overtook her features. Sasuke wasn't as slow on the uptake, he didn't blindly think the best in people like Naruto, he figured out what was going on. The animosity Sakura held for Hinata, the psychotic love she held for him, her saying their little hurdle was taken care of.

"You're as dumb as ever Naruto, isn't that right Sasuke-kun! We can take him out together and finally be alone. I already took care of one of your teammates and Lord Orochimaru has no use for him." She bat her eyelashes at him.

Sasuke removed Sakura from his side and pinned her against the wall by her throat.

"Where. Is. She." Sakura gaped for breath, clawing at Sasuke's arms. It was then Naruto realized the situation and placed a chakra suppressant seal on Sakura to prevent her from fighting or using any of her terrifying Genjutsus. Sasuke unceremoniously dropped her to the floor, his Uchiha glare in full effect.

"You want to see what I did to her? It's all in the name of love, when you see how pitiful _it_ really is, you will finally accept my never ending love for you Sasuke-kun." Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks saying 'she's delusional' as they trailed behind the skipping girl. The more they walked, the heavier the pit of dread grew in their bodies. What did Sakura really do to Hinata, what happened to her? They reached a corridor at the same time as Kakashi, Zabuza not far behind them. Kakashi gave them stern looks and a wary glance towards the bright smile Sakura held as he stopped at a door.

The smell of blood was overwhelming now and Kakashi hesitantly opened the door, worried on what he could find. Hinata's chakra was coming from the room but it was faint and moving so erratically that he knew she was panicking in a way he didn't think possible. Sasuke and Naruto tied Sakura up and stood by Kakashi, Zabuza, and the newly arrived Hiashi; ready to open the door. Sakura was brimming in joy to watch as the people closest to Hinata would finally see her for the pathetic trash she is, the tortured and broken mess. A girl who cries for her own death.

The door was slammed open and everyone froze in utter horror at the sight before them. Hinata was slumped over in a chair, her thin body clothed in her undergarments and her pale skin covered in blood. It was horrific at the amount of blood covering her and the floors to the point it was a miracle she hadn't bled out. Beside her were all the weapons used, they were various and bloodied. The bones in her left leg were protruding out of her skin and her shoulder was twisted at an unnatural angle. Naruto took a step forward to free her, but then she looked up. Her eyes, the eyes that always held love and mischief, the one part of herself that she could never hide her emotions in. The ever expressive face of Hinata was blank, not in a ninja way but in a soulless and empty way. Her lavender eyes that Naruto loved were milky and showed nothing but fear, she held no recognition for them, at least the them that were in front of her. She didn't think they were real, the real ones beat her, hated her, died because of her.

"Oh God."

Sasuke saw red, there was nothing but the broken girl chained up before him. She didn't look alive, he didn't know if she really was alive anymore and it was _his _fault. His Sharingan manifested and the pattern changed into a pinwheel swirl. His eyes burned, he felt nothing but guilt and hatred. The rage inside of him was greater than that for Danzo, the girl he loved and promised to protect was sitting there dead because of him, because of Orochimaru, because of _Sakura. _

Naruto felt the familiar red hot wrath of the Nine tails chakra flow throughout his body. His nails sharpened, the whiskers darkened, his fangs elongated. He wanted nothing more than to give in and rip everyone in this hideout apart. The red bubbling chakra of Kuruma bubbled around Naruto and took shape of the 1 tailed chakra cloak. He heard the sounds of people coming and he was ready, he wanted blood, he wanted revenge. His hatred merged with Kuruma and they prepared for vengeance.

Kakashi sank to his knees at the sight. She was so empty, the pain she must have endured he couldn't fathom. He was her sensei, her guardian and he failed her like he failed them. Rin, Obito, Minato-sensei. She was another added to the list of failures, she may be alive, but would she ever really be living again after this. All he could see is blood, her blood, their blood. Was he cursed to this world to destroy others? The fear in her eyes, it was so intense, she was nothing but emptiness and fear. He brought his hands up to his face and pushed back the tears trying to fall, he couldn't look anymore.

Zabuza had seen brutal scenes in his life. He had inflicted torture upon others numerous times, but the scene he was met with was one that made him want to empty the contents of his stomach. This wasn't just a form of torture, it was inhumane at its core. He was a demon but for someone to allow this, they were the devil itself. The only reason for her to be so messed up was because she didn't do whatever it was they wanted. He has seen people hold back from talking but no torture has ever gone this far, people either die or give in sooner or later, but she was just…broken. Zabuza knew it wasn't just physical torture, the fear, the emptiness, her not recognizing them right away, the fucked with her mind and he didn't know what to do. Hinata was strong mentally and physically, her enduring this long was proof but Zabuza didn't know if she would ever recover. It felt like losing Haku all over again, he should have been there, he was her protecter but he wasn't there. He will not let her give up her fight, not after she did it for so long. He was a demon

Hiashi began shaking the room with the chakra flowing out of his body. His daughter was before him, beaten and broken. He should have been there for her more, told her he loved her more, maybe she'd be ok if he had done something different. This was Orochimaru's fault, he did this to his daughter. Everyone here was going to pay for laying a hand on one of the people he loves the most, it should have been him in her place. He want's to take her pain away, to hold her and let her know everything will be alright, to let her know daddy is there and he will protect her. He will avenge his daughter even if it costs him his life, he will hold her and say he loves her and give her away to be safe.

Hiashi and Zabuza were the only two conscious of their actions at the moment. They exchanged glances and Zabuza knew what was coming. Hiashi walked over to his little girl and undid the bindings of her body and removed the chakra suppressors. With nothing holding her to the chair, she fell over but he caught her careful not to aggravate her injuries. She was shaking like a leaf but her eyes never moved, she didn't even blink. All she did was mumble numbers so quietly if he hadn't been listening he would have missed it. He took his hand and laid it on the top of her sticky, bloody hair, rubbing it softly to comfort her and let her know he wasn't going to hurt her.

"Hinata, daddy has you now, it's going to be alright. I won't let them hurt you anymore. I'm here, daddy has you now. I wont let them touch you, I have you. You are safe, I promise, you are safe." He spoke to her softer than he knew was even possible. Her eyes finally moved up to meet his and the ragged breaths she had slightly evened out. She was still shaking but the grey cloud over her eyes lifted in the slightest as she recognized him. He wrapped some of his chakra around her to let her feel him, feel the safety of a fathers embrace as he kept telling her who he was and that she was going to be ok.

Hinata was confused, her dad hated her. He wanted her dead, but he was right here. holding her and telling her she was going to be ok. She thought she was in another genjutsu and was waiting for the attack to come, but it never did. Everyone hated her, they wanted her dead, she was selfish. He told her over and over how he hated her and wanted her to die, how she was selfish and not his daughter, thats what she remembers, but this was different from the beatings. Instead she felt the cocoon of her fathers chakra coat her, it was real. It had to be. She looked up at him, seeing the familiar lavender eyes, but instead of the hate they held in all of her memories Sakura made her live through, she saw nothing but love. The same eyes that were always there when she did something good as a ninja. She let herself believe him, even if only in the slightest that it was him and that he was going to keep her safe from the monsters again. She stopped counting for the first time in a month, she had something else to focus on. Her dad was here to save her and even if it was a dream, she was ok with it. It was the first dream that wasn't bad in forever. She knew she didn't deserve it but it was all she could hold on to, to keep from fully losing herself.

"O-otou-s-s-san." her voice was hollow but she finally spoke to him, she stopped counting. She didn't notice anything else around her, all she saw through her swollen eyes was her dad.

"How touching, her beloved father is here to save her. Too bad, I still need her and she's staying with Sasuke-kun and I. She never gave told me what I wanted, never joined me so I punished her. I didn't think she would have lasted this long without giving in. Even I don't think I could take what she went through. Oh how her mind must be broken, tortured mentally and physically for over a month. I guess I can pardon her now since she brought me what I wanted." The snake gestured towards Sasuke who was focused on Sakura, his Sharingan still changing. Orochimaru licked his lips as he saw the Sharingan manifesting into the Mangekyou.

Zabuza sliced at Orochimaru but was easily dodged.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" He growled during his continuous attacks.

"I didn't do **_anything. _**Sakura and Kabuto were more than willing to do everything.I can tell you how I heard her screams echo across the walls, her cries and begging for someone to end the pain. I wonder if she'll ever trust you guys again after Sakura dealt with her. There is nothing more powerful in breaking a person and turning them to the dark side than having your ideals changed to be evil and the ones you love turn their back on you. I don't think she can even tell what is real or not right now." Orochumaru got tired of Zabuza and sent him flying through a wall. Kabuto finally made his appearance. Naruto's chakra finished taking shape and a second tail appeared as he charged at four eyes, starting their own fierce battle. Naruto was not going to let Kabuto go easy, he heard about Kabuto's treatment and his mind was clouded with the Foxes as he attacked over and over again, wanting to rip him to shreds. Any of the leftover henchmen that came to fight Naruto were smacked away with the flick of his tails.

Sasuke listened as Sakura raged on about the horrible things she did to Hinata, how she heard her beg for death. How worthless she was and how Sakura and Sasuke were meant to be together. Sasuke finally lost it when Sakura mentioned the breaking point, how her fragile mind slowly began to shatter. He didn't understand the power he was feeling, but let it consume him anyways. Blood dripped down from his burning eye and black flames surrounded Sakura, licking at her form. The black flames reached the pink haired girl and she let out shrieks and cries of pain at the burning of her flesh. Sasuke grabbed his sword and stabbed it into Sakura, sending electricity through the blade and into her body. She convulsed and continued her screaming as the black flames devoured her from. Sasuke limited the flames, making the death to be drawn out, she didn't deserve mercy. Sasuke wanted to wait and only kill Danzo, but this was necessary for him.

Orochimaru watched in glee at the sadistic smirk that crossed Sasuke's features. He enjoyed watching the boy kill Sakura in a drawn out hellfire death, his Sharingan was marvelous and was soon to be his. How perfect it turned out for Orochimaru, Sasuke came to him and had a power upgrade as well as a darker side. The Sanin stalked over to Sasuke who was panting and weakened substantially from the use of Amaterasu.

Hiashi kissed Hinata on her bloody temple, ignoring the dried blood that cracked off onto his lips.

"I love you my daughter. I couldn't have asked for anyone better to be my offspring and the new leader of our clan. Keep fighting, never stop fighting for what you believe in. Don't let this hold you back, it will be hard but I need you to push through. I love you, this is for you. Be safe and tell Hanabi I love her. I love you, I promise to avenge you." Hiashi kicked Kakashi up and carefully handed him his daughter, giving her possibly the last kiss from him. "Get her out of here, keep her safe. I leave her to you Hatake. protect my baby girl." Kakashi stared down at the girl in his arms and tightened his hold on her, saying the fated words again.

"I promise to keep her safe." Hiashi was not going to allow Sasuke to be taken, naruto to be injured. He saw how the boys looked at his daughter and how much his oblivious daughter cared for them. They were truly best friends, teammates, family. He was not going to let Orochimaru and his underlings hurt her anymore. As Orochimaru stalked closer to Sasuke, Hiashi intervened and started an intense battle to the death. Sasuke snapped out of it and saw Kakashi holding an ALIVE Hinata. She was still shaking in fear, but there were tears in her eyes as she began to realize what was going to happen, why her father said those things to her. She called out to him to let her take his place but her father didn't listen. Hiashi said to leave, to protect his daughter and that's what Sasuke planned to do. They picked up Naruto and Zabuza on the way out, Kakashi holding the frail girl in his arms as the boys shielded the screaming girl. She didn't acknowledge them, she didn't even know who was with her all she thought about was her dad and leaving him with the monsters. She was scared, she didn't want to go back but she didn't want to lose her father. Kakashi finally stopped the hysterical girl by knocking her out so they could move in silence and stop her mind from breaking even more.

Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, and Tenten saw the team re-emerge with Hinata. At first it was herd to recognize her but when they did, hearts were shattered at the sight. When the shock of her state was over, Shikamaru was the first to deduce the reasoning Hiashi was missing on the return. He had stayed behind to make sure everyone else made it safe, he sacrificed himself for his daughter and her friends. They all moved out, running at breakneck speed to get Hinata to Lady Tsunade for healing.

—Hinata's body physically healed quickly because majority of the injuries had already been healed by Kabuto, the issue was her mental state. Tsunade fixed what she could, some scaring left behind on the more serious stab wounds. She needed more help for when Hinata's mind was stable enough to wake herself up. To get an understanding of what happened to help Hinata in the best way possible she bought it Inoichi, Anko, and Ibiki. Ibiki was an expert in the mind and had been through the most torture of them so he would know how to help her be less fragile. Inoichi would be able to delve into her mind and give them an exact recollection of what Hinata endured and was the psychiatrist of sorts for ninja's that have PTSD. He would also hopefully be able to peice the broken pieces of her mind back together. Anko knows Orochimaru the best and would know how his mind works enough to help Hinata find a way to get over her fear of the snake man. Nobody truly knew the horror and thought this would be the best solution… that was until Inoichi brought Anko and Ibiki to watch the speeded up memories from the start of the mission to the end of the kidnapping.

After a few days of watching, the 3 most esteemed members of the TI department were pulled out from the girls mind. Inoichi collapsed on his knees and threw up in the garbage can beside Hinata's hospital bed. His daughter's best frined, sweet Hinata had endured a pain that Inoichi couldn't even fathom. Ibiki was pale and fully disgusted at what he had watched. He was no softie, he enjoyed breaking people's minds, but the torture this girl went through was disgusting for someone so young. He had to give credit to the girl, he knew she was tough, but this. She was strong willed, took the torture better than any man other than himself, he wanted to see how she would end up after she finally woke up. Anko clenched her fist's in anger, snakes pushing themselves out of her large overcoat. She knew how bad Orochimaru could be for someone's mental state, and by the looks of it, Hinata was going to have a hell of a time getting over her fucked up torture. She hated Orochimaru, but this, this was something she never believed her master was capable of. Was this what he hid behind closed doors, his never-ending quest for ultimate knowledge and power really made him into the devil and now more so than ever, Anko wanted him eliminated. He was weak, there was no way he could have killed Hiashi Hyuga without severe damages.

Tsunade was called back into the room and Ibiki and Anko gave her the full report of Hinata's abduction; Inoichi was still trying to remove the memories from his mind and did not want to re-think of them by giving a report. The blonde woman gripped her desk in her hands and with each word of the report, the desk was being cracked until it was nothing but shredded wood chips. Damn her teammate, how could Orochimaru have stooped so low, how could Sakura, a sweet Konoha kunoichi turn into such a psychopath. How was she going to tell this to everyone, how was she going to take care of Hinata when she woke up. On top of the shit she went through, the pain wasn't over. She didn't know it in her comatose state, but her last remaining parent was gone at the tender age of 13, she was now the leader of her clan, she was going to have to take care of little sister more so than ever, and Tsunade didn't know if Hinata could handle it all, at least she wont be doing it alone.

Zabuza was the first to read the report since he decided to take the role of guardian since it was put in Hiashi's will to give Zabuza the right's to what Hiashi would get if he were alive. Above all else he was glad Sasuke killed the pink haired girl that caused Hinata so much harm; he wasn't below killing a 14 year old girl but he was glad he didn't have to and she had already met her painful end. Naruto and the rest of Hinata's teammates and friends were clued into her situation as well, Tsunade wanted to let them know that when the girl woke up she would most likely have PTSD to an extreme extent and wanted them to be cautious around her.

Hizashi was taking care of Hanabi for the time being, he gave her a shoulder to cry on when she learned of her father's death and bought her to visit her sister when she looked less corpse-like. Hinata had visitors at all hours of the day, Gaara even managed to come for a day and leave her a sand rose as well as letters for her to read when she wakes up. Few people refused to leave her room and when visiting hours were over, they snuck back in to sleep beside her, ready to be there for whenever she woke up. Kakashi suspended Team 7's missions for now and whenever Shikamaru was not on missions he was beside the Hyuga. Kiba and Shino were struggling coping with Sakura's betrayed and death as well as the state Hinata was left in, Kiba blaming himself for his best girl-friend's capture.

Sasuke discovered that his evolution in the Sharingan was with the help of Shisui as they both never left her side. To keep his mind off it, he planned his part of the 'Take Out Danzo' plan and pissed off Naruto. Naruto was optimistic, he knew she was going to wake up soon and be fine after a bit of time. She was Hinata, she can push through anything. Naruto also knew that even if she wasn't fine, he would be there to help her be better.

—

_(Hinata POV) About 2 weeks after getting back to the village_

The white light, I really must have been dreaming about dad coming to get me, him holding me and promising I was going to be safe. That sliver of hope I had was slowly fading, that was until I heard the beeping of a heart monitor. My body didn't have that familiar mind numbing pain and there was no Kabuto telling me to keep counting, No Sakura showing me how worthless I was. None of my friends trying to kill me over and over. There was nothing, just the beeping and white. This might be heaven, possibly hell but I don't care. Nothing was worse than what I was going through. Maybe my wish was granted, everyone's wish was granted. Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Hanabi, everyone; they all got tired of torturing me and decided to end it. At least it's over.

I opened my eyes to see my purgatory but instead there were white ceilings of a hospital, not the cave, not heaven. I was alive which means my dad really did come for me. The memories came back in a flood, Dad he gave me to someone, he stayed back to fight. He has to be ok, right? He was all I had left, everyone else wanted me dead. They all hurt me because I'd hurt them. All I could see was the blood, I could feel the knives going into my skin, the sinister laugh of Sakura, my loved ones torturing me, me being the reason my mom died, I killed the Uchiha clan, everyone hates me. I hate me, I hate them, I can't do it anymore, I don't want to feel pain. He saved me from everyone, I need daddy, he has to be ok. He's strong enough to take on Orochimaru, he's the only one who didn't try to kill me, the only one whose life I didn't destroy in my pretend time as a hero.

I sat up, pushing down the phantom pains of Kabuto, my failures, my fear, the utter empty feeling that was overwhelming me and lifted my head to find daddy. He was no where in the room, maybe he's in the bathroom.

"She's awake, she's really awake dattebayo." That voice, no I can't do this anymore, not again. I started to involuntarily shake, my limbs were smaller than I remember and the red of my blood started to cover my arms. Naruto had a wide smile on his face I looked around and there was also Kakashi, Sasuke, Shisui, Neji, and Zabuza sitting in my room. All of their eyes were fixed on me and my body shook even more. I was _scared_. They were coming for me again, no I can't. I need dad, he will come save me from them again. "Hina-chan I've been waiting forever for you to wake up dattebayo." He reached his arms towards me, he was going to strangle me again. There were no chains so I flinched back into the bed and screamed.

"STAY AWAY STAY AWAY! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! OTOUSAN HELP!" I screamed out in a panic, he was going to hurt me, I don't want anymore. I would rather die, he want's me dead, he said so, they all do. They know I'm not a hero, they turned their backs on me. All I need is dad, he'll save me again. I stopped screaming but couldn't stop the shaking. There was only fear, it's going to happen again, I can't do it. First Kabuto, now this. "NO MORE! PLEASE!" Naruto moved away from me, his eyes wide as he looked to Kakashi for reassurance. He's going to join in too now. "otousan please." I whispered out before I started my counting, preparing myself to keep fighting like dad told me to, I'll keep fighting until he comes to save me again. I don't know how much more I can handle, everything else is gone, just fear, brokenness. I want to give in but dad told me I can't. My body shook with more fervor as Kakashi stood up walking closer to me. I pressed my back against the headboard until it was hurting as I cowered in fear. All I could see was the pain, the torture, him coming closer to make me repent for thinking I could be a hero, his incoming attacks to show how much he hates me. I don't want anymore, I'm alone again like I was. Just a sad and abused little orphan girl with dreams of grandeur, look where that got me. Scared and alone again, beaten and worthless.

Kakashi watched me, his grey eye never leaving my form. It wasn't as scary as it was a few days ago, it no longer held the hatred, but it's probably just a rouse to make me feel safe so he can make it hurt even worse. I wasn't sure anymore, I remember Kakashi from my past life, I remember him as my sensei who helped me through my first kills, but I also see him as the man who turned his back on me, he put his Chidori through my side, he helped Naruto and Sasuke explain their hate for me. At first I thought it was all genjutsu, I know Skaura had the skills to do it and hated me, but it felt so real. I don't know which Kakashi is real anymore, the pain was so real, all of it. It hurt by body, it hurt my mind. I wanted it to be over and I can't do anymore of my loved ones hurting me, leaving me. I can feel the pain, hear his words of contempt, the stupid thought that I would actually be a hero like Naruto or Spider-Man. My mind started shutting down again from the mass amount's of thought, all that was left was fear again.

My heart monitor sped up and was peeping rapidly, following the wild palpitations of my heart when Kakashi stood right in front of me. I gripped the blanket around myself as I continued my counting. A woman in a white nurses outfit rushed in the room and touched one of the bags connected to me, probably poison of some sort. My body felt heavy and my shaking stopped all at once as I faded into darkness.

—

**A/N this is all while she's out, still in her pov though.**

"Kakashi-sensei what was that? Why was she so scared?" Naruto asked. He was hurt that I looked so scared of him, my eyes were different from the other villagers that hated him because they were scared, I looked at him in pure terror and let out pained screams that were chilling. He didn't understand, he helped save her and I acted like he was the one who hurt me. Kakashi was still staring at my sleeping body and didn't answer so Zabuza did.

"You read the report, she saw all of us hurting her in one way or another, right now she cant distinguish us from the illusions she experienced. She thinks we all hate her and she's scared of us hurting her again. Hokage-sama said she'd probably be different and I think this is it, we have to get her to differentiate us from Sakura and get her trust again. The only person she trusts right now is her dad, he was the one who rescued her, it's like we weren't there."

"Oh." Naruto's big blue eyes narrowed in concentration for a second before his big smile came back. "Not a problem, I'm going to make her trust me in no time dattebayo!" He spoke with determination that filled the room and bought a hope to each person in it with the light that oozed out of him. Naruto believed in me to get better, he believed in himself to bring me out of the dark no matter how long it took. I was there for him and he's going to be there for me even more.

Sasuke was gripping tightly onto Shisui's arm before he abruptly got up and walked out of the room, a dark aura surrounding him as he went to his and my parents graves promising them all to help me and not let me get hurt anymore. He thought about my dad saving him and promised to repay the favor by helping Naruto to 'fix' me. He laid down the white flowers and wen't back to the hospital, his mood improved slightly not that it showed. He gathered everyone close to me who was in the village and brought them to my room so they could all figure out what to do to help me.

It was about 6 days after I woke up when I allowed the doctor to touch me when I was awake. I was shaking the whole time and bad flashbacks of Kabuto resurfaced but like I promised to my father, I would push through. At least nobody has tortured me yet. I have meetings with Inoichi every day at noon. I never spoke about anything except asking where my dad was int he meetings. He told me he saw everything so I don't have to talk about that, he wants me to talk about how I'm feeling and how my mental state is as he avoids talking about my dad. That's when I figured something was up, maybe he was hurt and in the hospital and can't see me until he's better. I tried not to think the worst, actually I try not to think at all. The worst part of my days was when people would come visit me, I would always start to shake and scream and have to be sedated because of it.

My first break through with people was with Shikamaru. He came into my room after I'd finished my body rehabilitation and silently set up a shoji board with a good bit of distance between us. He made the first move and sat waitng for me to do something. Inoichi said I need to try and distinguish my memories and remember who people really were. That everything after Kabuto wasn't real, it was all illusions. My shaky hand reached out and moved a piece. Shikamaru relaxed some and we continued playing in silence. This continued for a few days and gradually the shaking in my body stopped. I was scared a bit but not of Shikamaru. I would watch him all the time, my eyes blank instead of trembling in fear. I began to be able to notice differences between him and what Sakura showed me, he didn't have the silver glow that the Shikamaru who turned his back on me did. When he realized I had stopped shaking and was just staring, he let out a big sigh and started to talk.

"Listen, I know what you saw was bad but that wasn't me, that was Sakura and you know that. Think about it, pretending to be your friend or spending my time to torture you is too much of a drag. You know me, would I ever purposely make my life more troublesome? I was there the day we rescued you, I helped come up with the plan. You are a ninja, a kunoichi, and my best friend so stop looking at me like that. It wasn't me. This isn't you. It sounds harsh but you have to trust me, I'm never going to hurt you. Damn it Hinata, stop being such a troublesome woman and remember me because I hate this." I stared at him with tears in my eyes. The broken, lifeless look my eyes held flickered slightly, a spark of something shown and Shikamaru didn't miss it.

"Y-you were th-there with Otousan? You really didn't hurt me. I-I don't know it's too much." I whispered out, my voice trembling into a panic. He seems sincere but every time I see him, it brings me back to the cave, the room, Kabuto, being alone. Shikamaru didn't look phased by my reaction. He stood up and sat in front of me, moving the shoji board to the side. He brought my hands into his and stared me in the eyes. I started trembling and flinched back, but he kept his hold. I didn't scream like normal, it was less scary.

"Use your Byakugan. You can see chakra, you've told me about mine. Look at the chakra flowing through me." I nodded slowly catching my breath and activating my Byakugan. I looked to his center, the chakra flowing through his coils and relaxed slightly. His Chakra was the same from when we were kids, it was calm and lazy, dark but warm. His chakra wasn't flowing wildly like he was angry or wanted to attack. "See, it's the same as before. Think about the chakra of the me when Sakura showed you those visions. Feel it, feel the difference?" I nodded my head. Tears flowed out of my eyes and my body was racked with sobs as I remembered the chilling feeling of his chakra, it was evil, wild, and most of all pink. It wasn't him it was her, I knew it but I couldn't find the difference, it was so real but it wasn't Shikamaru, it was Sakura praying on my biggest fears. She may have been right on some of them, but he doesn't hate me.

Shikamaru knew me through and through so he knew that I finally figured it out. He knew exactly how to make me understand, how to figure out the difference between Sakura's illusions and the real people. Shikamaru went forward but I flinched back, I might know who he is but I can't have him touch me, contact still feels like Kabuto breaking my bones, stabbing me, hurting me over and over.

The next few weeks went the same, I had to be individually with each person and re-memorize their chakra and go through all of my memories to figure out the differences. It sucked, I passed out a lot from panicking and would have nightmares about my time in Orochimaru's lair. After a painstakingly long month, I was comfortable enough with everyone again. I still didn't let anyone touch me but it was progress and there were only short flashbacks when I would be afraid of them.

—

I found out my father had died from Sasuke. He told me how Orochimaru was going to take him in his weakened state after taking out Sakura but my dad stepped in and saved Sasuke making him promise to protect me and make sure I got out alive. It was hard, the person I fully trusted, the one who saved me was gone. I cried a lot, that same feeling of my mother dying came back again and this time it really was my fault. If I hadn't been kidnapped, none of this would have happened. If I had stopped pretending to be a hero, dad would be with me. At least Sasuke was ok, if Orochimaru had gotten him too I don't know what I'd do.

The one thing that kept me from breaking down fully was how when they ransacked the hideout- Orochimaru had moved to a new undisclosed location- there were all the bodies of everyone who had died except my father which means he is being kept for either reanimation purposes or he's alive and being used for something like Suigetsu is. I'm betting on the latter and it gave me a new drive, I need to track down Orochimaru to find my father and hopefully kill the seemingly immortal snake bastard and his lackey.

—

Zabuza moved into the compound with Hanabi and I as my guardian and he watched over me to make sure I didn't revert back to my original panic state. As much as he wanted to be the 'Demon' Zabuza but he took care of me with real care. He played it off like it was nothing, never failing to remind me I was a brat but every night I fell asleep with him in a futon next to mine and whenever I'd have a nightmare he would wake me up. I was made the head of my clan but I took a momentary pause on that and left Hizashi in charge with Neji second in command until I am prepared to lead. The clan elders were so pissed but said nothing for expense of my fragile mental state. Either way, Hizashi would be a perfect leader for the time being, I don't know if I am even fit to lead anymore anyways.

Tsunade allowed me to start fully training again, I did everything except work with weapons, I get a glimpse of a blade or I'd tremble and break down in terror. It's like the air is sucked out of my lungs and I'm back in the room having Kabuto torture me over and over while I counted back from 1000. Kakashi has been helping me train through this the most, having experience in getting over his own trauma after killing Rin with the Chidori.

Kakashi and I stood in front of one another and after a few days through training, I finally held a kunai in my hand without freaking out.

"Hinata-chan are you ready?" I sucked in a deep breath.

"Lets do this shit." Kakashi whipped out a kunai and held it a meter in front of me. The grip on my kunai faltered and it tumbled to the ground as I took a few steps back. Kakashi taking equal steps forward as I continued to move backward, fighting off the rising panic.

"Kakashi-sensei I-I don't know if I can do t-this anymore." I whimpered out as everything began to fade back into the hideout, Kabuto's sinister smile and glasses reflecting my bloodied body back to me were becoming more and more visible.

"Listen to me, don't focus on the kunai, focus on me. I'm not going to hurt you, this kunai is nothing but steel. It won't hurt you, it is controlled by me and I'm not going to hurt you. Breathe Hinata-chan breathe. You're strong, you've been dodging and deflecting Kunai since you were a cute little baby, nothing has changed now. You are still that girl, you are stronger, faster, and smarter than this scrap metal, don't let your fear of Kabuto continue to manifest itself into a fear of Kunai. What happened will NEVER happen again." Kakashi's bored tone was soothing in his empowering words.

"When you get over this fear Pakkun even promised to let you touch his paws."

After a few more trials, I managed to keep the kunai in my hand and only take a minor step back. With even more time, I was able to start defending from attacks and finally able to deflect a barrage of Kunai with only the slightest of a tremble. Everyone had been really big supporters in my rehabilitation mentally but Kakashi was the one of the ones there for me the most. He brought Hanabi and I dinner 3 times a week and made sure to train extra with me after out usual team training and my training with Tsunade. When Zabuza had to leave and Neji wasn't home, he would allow us to sleep at his house. He also aided me in getting over my Haphephobia by summoning all of his dogs and letting me play with them until I was finally comfortable with them touching me and licking me. That made nights easier because when I had nightmares I could move into bed with Sasuke, Naruto, or someone else and feel a little safer.

Training with Tsunade had also been ramped up a shit ton. I'm wasn't able to heal myself but after the incident, she made me train until I was dry of Chakra so that I'd be able to heal myself fast enough to avoid getting caught in situations like that by healing a poison enough to escape before collapsing. I also had two major training points with her. Tsunade gave me a scroll to read through. It was on how to create, activate, and use the Strength of 100 seal. My eyes trailed over the scroll maybe 5 times before I finally understood the basics. To begin to create the seal, I have to constantly have a steady flow of chakra to a tiny point on my forehead, making up a storage cell of sorts with a massive reserve of chakra. Sounds easy right? Fuck no it's not.

To continuously have chakra flowing to a spot on my forehead while also having chakra running throughout my body to use in training and such takes such precise control and the subconscious thinking of always putting chakra into that tiny spot to be stored up. It not only slowly drains my chakra throughout the day, it also makes me have to put more effort into everything I do because I always have to be aware and not accidentally stop putting chakra to store behind my forehead. I have most likely quadruple -if not more-than the chakra Sakura had when she started learning which will shorten the time it takes to form the seal by half if not more but it also makes it more difficult because I have more chakra to be in control of.

At first, I thought the Strength of 100 seal was just for medical purposes, when releasing the seal fully, it results in creation rebirth which means it regenerates cells as fast as they are destroyed for short term immortality- which is fucking awesome any way you look at it- but it has so many other uses. Just having the seal increases the user's natural strength by about double and when bits of the seal are released, only using it for enhancements, it can increase my strength by tenfold. It is a chakra storage with all the saved up chakra that I put into the seal, so if I'm running low on chakra, I can send some of the stored up chakra into my body to replenish my reserves depending on the level I want. Only using pieces of it result in black markings on the face, to full use it to it's full extent the markings will cover my body and speed up my self-healing, my chakra is a massive burst of strength, and can also use it to others benefit. Supposedly I should be able to use the Yin seal release to send some of the markings to whomever I'm touching to increase their chakra, or to speed up the healing I'm doing on them. I have to be touching them though.

Learning and accessing this jutsu is no small feat and is the only way I will continue to even remotely try to stand on grounds close with Naruto and Sasuke. I just have to work on the continuous flow of chakra while holding it in place to form the seal, when it shows up, I'll know by the change in my body internally and externally.

I asked about learning to summon Katsuyu but Tsunade said the only possible way to summon her is to have the seal, Katsuyu only reacts to the seal which is why only Tsunade has been able to summon her thus far which kind of sucks for me because I want a summon. Sasuke is learning snake summoning from Anko and he's going to get a Hawk summoning sometime in life, Naruto can summon freaking badass, monstrous Toads but I can't summon anything because I don't have the seal. I think though, if Sasuke had 2 summonings, I can possibly have 2 too. I remember Jiraiya just did the jutsu without a contract and then Boom! Toad summonings, so maybe if I do it, I'll get my own summoning animal. I don't think I'll die, at least I hope I wont, but to be as strong as I can and to find Orochimaru, I'll need as much power as I can get. Good or bad, right or wrong, I'm going to find my father and take him down.

In Tsunade's office, she was drinking Sake while I train. I returned from the hospital after healing a minor fracture in Izumo's wrist from messing around with Kotetsu.

"Lady Tsunade?"

"What do you want now?"

"What are the hand signs for the Summoning Jutsu?" I asked hoping to not draw suspicion to myself for asking again.

"Bird, Boar, Dog, Dragon, Hare, Horse, Monkey, Ox, Ram, Rat, Serpent, Tiger." She didn't even look up when talking. A smirk crossed my face and I did the hand signs, then bit my thumb to draw blood- this looks so easy but it fucking hurts like a bitch, what the hell Naruto makes it look so easy- and placed my hand on the ground. "Why do you- wait you stupid brat, you don't have a…" Tsunade shouted at me when she saw me put my hand on the ground. As she was finishing her sentence, I felt my body's insides jumble together and I was suddenly free falling straight into the most beautiful rocky area I've ever seen. Everything was made of stone but it was all glowing and ethereal looking. Maybe I really did die this time.

"Oh fuck." I was plummeting to the ground, my stomach was doing that flip-flop thing like on a rollercoaster when I hit something hard, but soft. No way in hell was it ground of any sort, especially not those glowing rocks. I was pushed off the landing pad and my eyes trailed up the golden, massive paw and followed it up to meet the head of a beautiful and deadly looking lion with a reddish, golden mane. He was like the god version of Mufasa if Mufasa was a supermodel lion. Did I summon myself into the lion realm or whatever it is called? Lions are my favorite animals besides snakes and to summon one would be so awesome, like I even formed my special jutsu I'm still working on after one. This is perfect if they want to be my summonings.

"What is a brat like you doing here? Speak before I eat you small one." His deep voice reverberated throughout the area. I got on my knees and bowed, wanting to show respect to the king of the animal kingdom.

"My name is Hinata Hyuga, I'm a ninja and I did the summoning jutsu without a contract and ended up here. I would like to prove myself as worthy and gain you as a summoning. I will do whatever it takes to please the lions if it means attaining you as a summoning Lion-sama."

"You look pitiful bowing like that,stand before me and let me see if you are worthy of summoning something as powerful as us Lions." I got off my knees and stared him in his beautiful blue eyes. His mouth was opened, showing his fangs that were bigger than my body, and his claws were out for show, shining in their deadliness. I didn't flinch away from his gaze once and he smiled at some point. It was not all friendly, it was to showcase his fangs even more, it was for intimidation. I still did not budge as his glowing blue eyes continued to bore into mine. He sucked in a deep breath and his eyes stopped glowing. "You truly don't look like much but I sense power from you. You have a light heart, but there is a new and intense darkness plaguing your mind. What makes you think you are worthy to summon me?"

"I have lived through utter hell, nothing you do will scare me off anymore. I am not a hero and am not innately good anymore and I may not be worthy but I want to prove myself to summon something as great as yourself." He opened his mouth and roared. It was loud- painstakingly so to the point my ears were ready to bleed- and the wind coming from his roar was so powerful I had to use a lot of chakra to keep my feet stuck to the gemstone beneath me so I was not blown away. My hands were covering my ears to help block the intense sounds of his roar and I crouched down as the strong tornado-like winds ripped around me. My chakra was wavering and my head was pounding from the roar and I slid back bit by bit as my chakra threatened to lose his hold. Tears ripped through my clothes and there were small painless lacerations on my arms from his wind and when I was finally about to lose my grip on the ground, he stopped.

"You are the first one not to be blown away and eaten little girl. I am impressed at your strength. Now answer me one final question. Why do you want a summon?

"To protect those I care for and to destroy those who threaten that." The gigantic beast smirked and his head dipped lower to mine, jaws open. I prepared to run, hopefully to not get eaten, but instead he licked me. His tongue was rough and left me slimy, but it was also nice and I giggled a bit for the first time. He was like a giant, super scary and intense pup.

"I like you, you're not a goody-goody pansy hero-type, you're willing to get dirty to succeed. Your reasoning is sound and you are an alpha at heart. On behalf of the all us at the Stonehenge of Raion, I Muramasa accept you as our summoning. Do not take this lightly, if you treat my children badly, I will eat you." A smaller lion walked up from over one of the giant glowing blue gemstones, this one was a normal sized female and had sleek black fur with a golden sheen. Her eyes were piercing blue as well and in her mouth she carried a scroll. She introduced herself as Kireina and I signed the contract of summoning the lions of the Stonehenge of Raion. **(a/n Raion is lion in japanese so they live in the place of Stone lions basically) **I was reverse summoned back to Tsunade's office and I'm positive if I wasn't so mentally fucked, Tsunade would have punched me to the moon for disappearing.

I arrived back in her office, Shizune and Tsunade were both freaking out- Shizune freaking out in a good way and Tsunade was threatening to pound me into the earth- when I poofed into existence, sprawled ungracefully on the floor. Shizune rushed over to me and helped me up, checking every part of my body to make sure I was fine. She started healing my small cuts whispering how much trouble I am in for stressing out Tsunade.

"You little brat! What the hell were you thinking, are you trying to kill yourself? I know things are hard for you right now and I can't begin to understand it but I already have Naruto going off pulling crazy stunts, I don't need you doing it too. You Idiot, I can't bare to lose you again." I blushed in embarrassment at making her so stressed out, she's always so tough so sometimes I forget how she has her own inner demons. Shizune released me after a flick to the forehead sending me into the wall, Tsunade pulled me into a hug. I tensed at first but reminded myself to relax.

"Guess what! I got a summoning contract!" Shizune gasped.

"Hinata-san are you serious?" She questioned. Tsunade just smirked at me, knowing the only reason I'm not dead is that I earned a contract.

"Yeah, it's a lion summoning, I didn't know that it existed but it does. The one I met was named Muramasa and he's a giant wind user with a loud ass roar. He kept threatening to eat me too. It was awesome! Oh shit, it's so late. I need to go find Naru, we're having dinner together. I can't wait to show him my summon, he's gonna be so jealoussss." I opened the window and jumped out Kakashi-style running across the rooftops to make it to Ichiraku's.

Naruto's blonde hair was bright against the warm glow of the setting sun, he looked at me as I jumped down beside him.

"Hina-chan you're late!" I had no time to react before he grabbed my hand and pulled me onto a stool. He ordered the Barbecue pork ramen and I had spicy miso. By the time I finished 2, Naruto had finished 9. "So Hina-chan, I'm learning this super awesome jutsu today with Pervy Sage. I'm gonna show Teme and blow him outta the water with it dattebayo!" Naruto continued on to excitedly tell me about the start of learning a jutsu where the first step involves designing his own seal and being able to create it with his chakra alone. Every other sentence he would include something about being able to finally destroy Sasuke and catch up to me. The smile on my face was more genuine that it had been in a long time, the brightness of Naruto was infectious and being around him was finally bringing me peace of mind. I was able to push aside the darkness momentarily as we were together. He really is the sun in a world of darkness. I also told him about my new summon while not so subtly bragging about the awesomeness if it.

"WHAT No way! That is so much cooler than most of my toads dattebayo! Ah man, why do I have to be the loser with stupid little toads." I giggled at his ranting but he got over it quickly and perked back up, putting me on his back and wrapping my legs around his waist as he ran up the Hokage mountain saying something along the lines "A real man doesn't let a lady run after dinner" which sounded like something Jiraiya taught him. We made it to the top and sitting on the top of the second's head were Kiba and Akamaru. Naruto disappeared saying he'd walk me home later and I was left alone with Kiba. He hadn't spoken to me since I got home and the air was tense. Kiba had his fists clenched and didn't even look in my direction. Akamaru nudged him before running and jumping into my arms, his body bigger than the last time I'd held him so I stumbled and let out an "oof."

I walked over and sat on Hashirama's head in silence. My mind was reeling in the darkness as I watched the sun set over the horizon. Akamaru stayed beside me, cuddling into my side and licking my hand for reassurance every few minutes. Kiba spared a few glances every once and awhile but the only sounds he made were a few low growls. I got fed up, being in silence brought me to a bad place and I needed it to be over. As fast as I could, I jumped and tackled Kiba, he reacted instantly and gripped my wrists as we rolled around throwing half hearted brawler style attacks at one another. Akamaru jumped in and with the sudden weight on me, I got distracted and Kiba pinned my arms, breathing heavily.

His coat was unzipped and messily hanging off his body, there were red marks from my weak hits and his hair was messier than normal. His presence always managed to rile me up and vice versa. We fought all the time, it has been that way since the day we met and I kicked his ass. If anyone had been considered my obvious rival it would be Kiba. I'd always wanted to match up with Itachi but that was different, Kiba and I were rivals through and through. We were best friends through our fists and arguments and I'd have it no other way. This was the first time in a long time that we had fought, no jutsu no ninja skills, just pure wrestling and I loved it.

I began to laugh under him and my eyes stopped and widened at his neck. Where his coat was usually covering there was the green mark of a bruise that was on its last stages if healing. It wasn't an ordinary bruise though, I'd lived long enough to know exactly what a hickey was and this was definitely it. There was only one person I could imagine Kiba getting a hickey from and I lost it and laughed until I was wheezing.

"What the hell are you laughing at. Damn it Hinata this isn't a time to be laughing."

"S-sorry -haha-, Shino gave you a -haha- a hickey!" Kiba's face flushed as red as the markings on his cheeks but he did nothing to deny it. After a bit I'd managed to stop my laughing and Kiba let me up. We'd sat side by side, Akamaru laying across out laps.

"I'm sorry. Damn it I'm so sorry Hinata. I'm a coward, I abandoned you and I can't shake the feeling that if I hadn't, if I fought with a level head you wouldn't have been hurt, you wouldn't have been broken and changed. I can smell it on you, Akamaru can too. The change inside of you, there is such a strong darkness within you that wasn't there before and I can't do anything about it."

"You already did. You being here, fighting me like we always did, you being you is enough to keep me sane and happy. None of it's your fault, it just showed me I need to be stronger and to do that I have to be willing to embrace the darkness. I'm not a hero, I never was. I was pretending and I finally realized that. To take out someone like Orochimaru, to finally be able to achieve my dreams I can no longer play the hero, I have to do whatever it takes even if it is in the darkness. The light in me was changed, coated in blood but now I have something stronger. Understanding." Kiba looked at me like I was crazy but said nothing about it, instead changing the subject to complain about how cool Shino is and how he never knows what he's thinking.

Kiba left late in the night and Naruto reappeared making me think he might have been listening. The look on Naruto's usually expressive face was unreadable but when his eyes re-focused onto me, he had a small smile. He reached out his hand using the other to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. I took his warm hand and he walked me back home, telling me stories about more of what he and Sasuke did when I was out.

"Hina-chan don't worry about anything anymore ok. I promise to always protect you from now on dattebayo. I never go back on my word, thats my ninja way." I kissed his cheek and walked inside able to hear him shout "YES SHE KISSED MY CHEEK DATTEBAYO!"

_Dear Hinata-chan,_

_I am sorry I was not there for you and cannot be there when you wake up. I have failed in my duty to protect you but I promise to make it up to you someday. I think I finally understand more of what you were talking about with love, you are one of my loved ones. I realized this when Naruto-kun sent me the letter of your kidnapping. I was angry and what Temari described as worry for you. I am pleased to know you are alive and when you wake up please write me back so I do not have to worry for you anymore. The rose I left is infused with my chakra and will not break unless something happens to me, it also allows me to track it if we ever need to find you again. I was named Kazekage last week, my people were very accepting and there are few who are afraid of me still. I finally gained their respect and trust and that is once again thanks to you. Do not let this keep you down, you are strong Hinata-chan so keep fighting, don't lose what makes you, you. _

_Love,_

_Gaara._


	16. The mission to end all missions

"Shisui-nii wake your ass up!" I screamed as I entered his house with no invitation. He must have still been sleeping because there was a loud thud and some whining coming from his room. Sasuke ran out of the kitchen and glared at me for creating such a racket when he was enjoying the peace and quiet of a time with Shisui being sleep. I was rocking back and forth on my heels and basically bouncing in excitement at my discovery. There was a lot of caffeine in my system that has been keeping me awake for the last 4 days and I may or may not have taken a shot of adrenaline to pump myself up for the next few hours to come. Shisui came barreling down the staircase, not bothering to feel his way down the stairs and instead bumping into everything in his path. He crashed into me and after a bit of fumbling put his hands on my shoulders a big sadistic grin on his face as he squeezed tightly on my shoulders.

"What the heck Imouto, I was sleeping so nicely. This better be good."

" .It." I said proudly and bursting with excitement at every word. Shisui's smile faded then came back 10 times brighter. He kissed the side of my head then picked me up in his arms and spun me around a few times laughing childishly in pure awe.

"You did it! i can't believe it you actually did it! Have I ever told you how amazing you are because you really are amazing. Even more so than 'Tachi-chan right now and definitely better than Emo-suke-chan." Sasuke glowered at the nickname and made us stop twirling. He was annoyed with us because he had no clue what was going on and did not like being out of the loop. He could pretend not to care but Shisui and I both knew that was his main problem.

"What did the freak do now?" His tone was dull in a way only the duckbutt could manage but he failed to hide his intrigue. Shisui and I were both grinning brightly, the excitement I hadn't felt in a long while just kept overflowing out of my body.

"I/She found a way to fix his/my eyesight!" We both yelled out in unison that was almost comical. Sasuke took a second to process the words then his stoic facade broke. His jaw dropped open and his onyx eyes were wide with disbelief. He regained his composure but the joy he was feeling for Shisui was evident and he joined in our glow.

"How?"

"I've been working on the solution since I started training under Lady Tsunade. Actually implanting the eyes would be easy because The sockets are empty and undamaged, it was more tricking the brain into using the eyes to see again and not rejecting them. Once I figured that out, the rest was a cakewalk."

"Hn…Why did you never say anything to me?" Sasuke was annoyed once again but he was also proud of me for finally using my brain for some good.

"I told her not to, I didn't want to get your hopes up if it wasn't possible. Finding a solution was a long shot." Shisui sensed the growing anger in the hotheaded Sasuke and calmed the situation. He pulled us into a hug and for the first time since Sasuke was a kid, he didn't pull away. I dragged Shisui out of his house in his pajamas and headed straight for the hospital, Sasuke in tow.

The preparation for the surgery was not easy by any means, but the surgery itself wasn't overly difficult considering it was an eye transplant. I'd always wondered how easily eye transplants went for the Uchiha (and Uzumaki with the Rinnegan) and just assumed it was anime magic but when Shisui lost his eyes and I got an apprenticeship under the greatest medical ninja ever, I knew I needed to figure it out and help Shisui. Most eye transplants like Kakashi's are relatively 'easy' (again using this term lightly because it requires a lot of medical skill and knowledge of the body) because the eye is fresh and the socket is also not healed so it is readily accepting an eye. The brain is also still wired to use vision heavily with the other senses so it is accepting of the eye and is able to see out of it instantly while supplying the chakra into it immediately.

With the case like Shisui where it has been years his eye socket is not ready for an eye because it has healed itself to compensate for the lack of eyes now and so first we'd have to basically shred his socket to prepare it for transplant. The second main problem I was running into was that it has been so long since Shisui has been able to see that his brain completely stopped sending Chakra flow to where the eyes were and stopped acknowledging that there ever were eyes, so even if we managed to successfully implant the eyes into Shisui, he wouldn't be able to see out of them because the brain would not acknowledge them and no chakra would flow to them making them decay and be nothing more than decoration.

The solution I came up with was to basically Genjutsu his brain into thinking there were eyes all along so that it connects with his brain and can actually process images and colors and to use my gentle fist to forcefully activate his chakra to flow into the new eyes and connect it with his body. The rehabilitation would also involve a nurse forcing the chakra to keep flowing into the eyes every day until it does it naturally.

For Shisui's transplant we had to take a recently dead person, so whoever died in the hospital today and had eyes that would fit the dimensions needed was what he got. I wanted Shisui to get green eyes because he would totally be even more of a lady killer, but alas he said he would beat me up if I gave him any eyes that weren't black. There's nobody with black eyes like an Uchiha and hopefully when we kill Danzo, he'll get one of his eyes back, but for now we got him a dark dark grey eye that was as close to onyx as we could get. The surgery was successful and after a few days of being bandaged, Shisui got to open his eyes.

"I can see, everything is blurry and just blobs of color but I can see. I can't believe it." Tears were pouring out of his eyes and he hugged Tsunade and I in thanks. We not only gave him sight but with time he'd be able to be a Shinobi again. After a bit of rehab, Shisui was able to see people more clear. We gave him glasses for aid and light was still troublesome but with a few more month's he should be good as new.

"Awe Imouto you're so pretty now. No wonder I have to beat the boys off with a stick." He turned his eyes over to Sasuke and looked over his form, a shit-eating grin covering his features. "And you little Sasu-chan still look like a cute little ducky." He pat his head and I laughed my ass off as Sasuke pouted in embarrassment and fixed the hair Shisui messed up.

"Hn. I liked you better blind." Shisui and I laughed even harder. **(A/N I felt like a baller writing this. I made a lot of it up but I felt like it worked and helped express how Hinata is actually super smart and when she's not plotting her angsty life, she threw herself into other work.)**

—Naruto was the first of Team 7 to say he was leaving. Jiraiya had decided that with the Akatsuki at large, Naruto staying in the village at his current level was not only a threat to himself but to the village most of us devoted our lives to protect. Knowing that it was getting closer to the war to end all wars, it was time to put each and every plan into motion.

Naruto, Shisui, Sasuke, and I were all sitting together in Naruto's apartment. He placed silencing seals around the apartment and we checked and re-checked to make sure everything was secure before we started planning. Sasuke, Shisui, and I decided that before Naruto left we would inform him of our plans, knowing him, he'd go to the ends of the earth to find us and 'save' us if we didn't inform him of everything, and especially on my part, dealing with the Akatsuki who were going after him, we thought he should know. I shut off all the lights and lit up a lantern to shine on my face like I was going to tell a scary story. Naruto laughed and Sasuke got up and turned the light's back on before I could do anymore.

"You know generally what happened in the Uchiha Massacre right?" Shishi asked, starting off the most difficult conversation we're going to have.

"Yeah, Itachi killed everyone and put Teme and Hina-chan in comas." Shisui took a deep breath and explained everything from his side, what was happening with the Coup, his and Itachi's roles, and how Danzo fucked everyone over by trying to kill Shisui. Then I had to explain everything from then on putting all of the pieces together in understanding. Once Naruto understood the basics and that Itachi wasn't at fault for everything we decided to inform him of the plans to take down Danzo and bring Itachi home (I didn't mention the aspect of me hopefully helping the other Akatsuki members because that wouldn't have gone well for me). We explained that Sasuke was going to join Danzo's root program and get close enough to find out everything about him (as well as find Sai and anyone else who we can save from his tyrannical nature), Shisui was providing us with background information and hopefully if everything went well he would have more of a role when it comes to exposing and executing Danzo. My piece was to bring Itachi home by getting close with the Akatsuki, I'd be finding out truly what they want, would be able to find and ruin Orochimaru, and will save Itachi from his death and allowing him to be seen as a hero again.

"Neji might have been on to something, sometimes I feel like fate is trying to fuck with my happiness forever." Sasuke said with no hint of joking. Knowing that we were all separating-Bar Kakashi- was a difficult thing for us to accept. We have been together for a long time, have formed bonds that cannot be broken but somehow life is still fucking with everything and the only way to set it straight is for all of us to in dangerous situations without one another. I had no words, I felt the same way but Naruto being himself wasn't accepting of that.

"Don't be like that Teme. If you don't like the hand fate's dealt you with, fight for a new one. Fight to be happy, together or apart we'll fight right alongside of you." My mouth gaped open, Shisui had a glowing smile on his face as he looked between all of us, and Sasuke looked pensive before nodding in agreement. Shisui pulled us all into a hug, Naruto and I eagerly joining in with Sasuke being reluctant but accepting at out last hug with us 4 until we are all technically adults for Ninja standards.

Naruto was extremely against my role but I reassured him that Itachi wouldn't allow me to get hurt and Tsunade and Jiraiya would never allow me to go if my plan wasn't perfect. Mine was a long-term deep cover mission and we were all ready to bring Itachi home and see Danzo burn in hell before he could ruin anything else for anybody. I was most ready to expose him and watch him wither and die like the piece of shit he is. No way in hell would I let him become Hokage and go unpunished for his crimes, the village would see him for what he is. Naruto was really worried about Sasuke too, Danzo is extremely powerful especially when he has one of Shisui's eyes and we needed Sasuke to not fuck up. The only thing that made it ok was that Shisui joked about how Sasuke would have no trouble acting like an emotionless dick (as long as he doesn't act like a hothead like Naruto drives him to be). Naruto finally understood everything and was furious at Danzo as much as we were, and after lots of convincing and promises of ramen, he was on board with everything.

—

I waited at the gates of the village with a emo Sasuke- who 100 percent refused to admit he'd miss Naruto but still looked more emo than usual,- Kakashi -who was actually on time- was glad Naruto would be safe but sad to see the ball of sunshine leave, Zabuza who was also unwilling to admit that Naruto had grown on him exponentially, and Shisui who saw Naruto as an extension of our odd family.

Naruto came racing over to us breathing heavily and a bright but sad smile on his whiskered cheeks. He went down the line giving heartfelt goodbye's and making promises to everyone, Kakashi even accepted a hug from Naruto without pushing him off. Big bad Zabuza, who is even more masterful at teasing people than Kakashi (who is the most skilled at pissing of people with little effort) morphed his voice to match Naruto's and yelled out an "I Love you Teme-kun dattebayo!" Which resulted in them both fuming in anger and freaking out while the rest of us enjoyed the last of SasuNaru tsundereness. I was the last one and seeing him, knowing it would be the last time for the next 2-ish years made my heart clench. Naruo's cheeks took on a light blush in embarrassment over anything else. I ran and jumped on him, he wrapped his arms around me and I stayed like that for who knows how long.

"I know I promised to protect you and I can't do that gone, but I will come back stronger than everyone and you'll be safe with me dattebayo. You believed in me and I'm going to come back worthy of your praise."

"Just promise to come back to us safe ok? I'll kill you and the Super Pervert if you die so you better fucking not." I didn't know how hard it would be to say goodbye. Naurto was giggling in glee at my tight hug and made me a bunch of promises and exaggerated explanations of how strong he was going to return as. I put my head into his shoulder as I inhaled his scent mumbling about how much I was going to miss him. For the moment I forgot about everything I was about to do and just focused on my best friend, the sun, the only person I know who I truly consider to be 100 percent worthy of the title of a superhero.

"You also can't go dying on me; I won't accept that. Don't let that stupid snake bastard scare you anymore, you're way too cool to let that keep getting ya down."

"I promise not to die Naru-kun." His strong arms were holding me tight enough that I could feel the outline of his abs and each muscle contract with every breath and movement. He smelled of Ichiraku and being there with him, in his arms as my best friend-the blonde ball of sun who was going to save the world someday-reinstalled my determination to do whatever it takes to keep him safe. "I love you blondie. When you get back, we'll finally have that battle."

"I love you too Hina-chan." Naruto placed his lips on the top of my head where my Seal should appear-warmth spreading from the spot and tingling down to my toes. His surprisingly soft lips stayed there as my arms tightened my grip on him for the last time in what seemed to be forever. I memorized the feeling of his Chakra, the way he smelled, every detail of his tanned face, the whisker markings on his cheeks, the almost insanely bright yellow of his wild hair. The shape of his lips when they quirk upwards and form that familiar foxy smile that brings mischief and happiness everywhere he goes. He pulled away with his blinding smile back on his face and raced off to follow after the Toad Sage, his right hand up in a fist as he disappeared from sight.

I was standing in Tsunade's office as we stared one another down.

"Lady Tsunade, it is time." She sucked in a deep breath and opened the classified case with my name on it. It had the details and preparations for my long term mission to not only save members of the Akatsuki and to bring them safety within the village, to find my father and Orochimaru, and my part of the plan to expose and destroy Danzo- A plan which Tsunade and Jiraiya were both way too onboard with. She picked up her pen and signed the 3 separate covert and infiltration missions with only slight hesitation.

"Jonin Hinata Hyuga from this point forward you are on 3 long-term missions assigned and only known about by the 5th Hokage, Jiraiya of the Sanin, Kakashi Hatake, Naruto Uzumaki, Shisui Uchiha, and Sasuke Uchiha. You are to not inform anyone else of the details of the mission. You are only able to let your closest friends and family know that you will be going undercover for a long period of time. Do not let this information get out or you will surely be killed on the spot. Pack up your stuff and leave the village tonight, as of now, you are considered a Rogue Kunoichi to everyone but the aforementioned. If you are going to fail the mission or your life is in danger, you are to abandon the mission and return home where the details of your mission will be revealed and you will no longer be considered a rogue. Your main mission is to be completed within a 3 year timeframe and everything else soon after. Is this all clear?"  
"Yes M'lady." She reached her hand out and gripped my shirt in her fist, pulling me to be eye to her.

"You listen here brat. In no way will I accept you dying so you better not. I didn't train you for nothing so you better not get caught. You are like a daughter to me and if you go and kill yourself I'll pound you into the next life. Good luck Hinata." She leaned down and gave me a kiss on the forehead- right where my Strength of 100 seal should be showing up hopefully soon- as well as the materials she was aloud to provide for me. I pulled out the letters from my pouch.

"Please give these to everyone when I leave." My voice shook slightly, I needed to leave everyone behind for now but it's harder than I thought it would be. Lady Tsunade gave me one more hug and we took one last shot together for the time being. As soon as I left her office my first stop was Ino's house. Her and Choji were hanging out so I gave them both massive hugs and told them I'd be gone for a little while on a mission. My next stop was to say 'goodbye' to Kiba and Shino but I think they both noticed something was up by my vague goodbye and firm hugs. I said goodbye to Neji, Lee, and Tenten together when they finished early morning training with Gai. Neji pulled me aside and I gave him a larger hug than normal saying he was a perfect big brother and I loved him. He wasn't stupid and knew what was going on slightly. I gave him some small details when I told him he was the leader of the clan. He needed to know I wan't a threat and we left it at that. For the first time, he called me Imouto and I was so giddy with happiness at the best possible goodbye I could have received from the princely and stoic big brother. I stopped at Shikamaru's house next and found him laying in a tree in the clearing of the Nara woods. I hopped on the tree branch he was on and hovered over him, blocking the sunlight from absorbing into his tanned skin. He opened one eye and lazily looked at me before letting out a big sigh and moving a bit to make room for me to sit beside him.

"What's up with you today?" He drawled as he moved his arm haphazardly over my shoulders to get more comfortable.

"I'm leaving for a while." Both of his eyes opened and focused on my face to watch my every reaction. His eyebrows furrowed and i figured he had a general idea of what was going on. For a long time, I've been going over hypotheticals of what to do in situations when you were faced with criminals and how to handle them. Each scenario fit members of the Akatsuki as well as other rogues I was probably going to encounter at some point. Lately though, it has become darker in situations and I have been trying to figure out the best ways to handle finding and destroying Orochimaru and Kabuto. I have been leaving clues in it to lead Shika to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing without having a breach in my mission, he's smart enough to figure it out on his own and plan accordingly for whatever situation is thrown at him.

"You're not seriously thinking of going after him?" He questioned in his dry tone of voice.

"Damn, you got me." I let out a weak chuckle. "I have a mission and won't be home for a while, this is goodbye for now."

"What a drag, making me worry like the troublesome woman you are. Remember what we talked about, don't act stupid and reckless. If you're doing what I think you are, don't break even for an instant play the game with everything you've got. Take that bastard down and find your dad. I'm not happy about you letting the darkness in, but don't let it overwhelm you." His hold on me tightened and the aroma of his woodsy scent enveloped my senses. The hand behind his head was now crossed over his chest and intertwined out fingers as he traced shapes into the palm of my hand with his thumb. We lay on the branch and looked into the sky pointing out the shapes we made out in the clouds. It was calm and I held onto the moment as long as I could. By the time it reached late afternoon I knew I needed to leave to be able to say goodbye to everyone. I pushed myself out of his arms and prepared to jump down when my body locked together and I was frozen in place. I was forced to take a step back and the shadow possession was released. Shika turned me around with his hands and pulled me into a hug. "Make sure you come back to me, to the village it would be a drag if you die." He whispered in my hair. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled away. Before he released me, he leaned down and put his lips over mine for the second time.

Once again my mind went into overdrive at someone who wasn't supposed to like me kissing me. He knows I'm leaving but was still wanting to kiss me and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Did I actually create my own Harem, this might fuck up everything with having not only Sasuke and Naruto but Shika liking me too. I know it's wrong, but we're young and I don't know how to feel, all I know is that I'm leaving one of the people closest in my heart and kissing him makes my heart flutter in an obnoxiously girly way.

His kiss was calm but he was surprisingly dominant as his warm lips enveloped mine, moving me at a slow rhythm like we were the melody of a song. In the swiftness only possible as a trained ninja we jumped from the branch and I was pressed up against the base of the tree. **(A/N Shika is 14 and Hinata is 13 for now so it's not crazy inappropriate cuz I know plenty of ppl who did worse at this age. I kinda messed up the timeline but did it on purpose so don't worry.) **One of his hands tangled in my hair and the other one was holding onto my waist. Although slow, he expressed all of his passion through his lips. Shika was saying goodbye through the kiss and I was promising to come home safe, no words were necessary. We'd known one another long enough to speak even through new actions like now. His tongue slowly made it's way to my lips and before it escalated any more, I pulled away giving one last look before sprinting away full speed. All the words I wanted to say were in the letter he'd receive tomorrow.

I stopped outside of Kakashi's flat after confirming he'd be home sleeping off a solo mission and fixed my messy hair and made sure my involuntary blush from my previous adventure was gone. I picked the lock and strutted inside making sure to slam the door loud so he would wake up. He slowly walked out of his room in a tight black tank top -his toned arms and ANBU tattoo on full display further confirming he really is one of the hottest leaf ninja even without his face on display-**(A/N he really is tho like damn Kakashi is the hottest of them all. Sasuke and Naruto aren't close behind him lead village wise)** and pajama pants. His headband was gone and his silver hair flopped over his forehead, his grey eye looking at me in mild confusion for waking him up. He was favoring his left leg slightly meaning he probably got injured but with his track record there was no way he was going to the hospital if he could help it. Anytime the hospital was even mentioned around him he made like Houdini and pulled a slick as fuck disappearing act to avoid the place that had nurses hit on him and that just overall he hated being in. I pushed him to sit on his couch so I could heal him while we talked.

"Maa Maa, what did I do to earn a visit from my favorite female 'soldier' when she knew I was sleeping." Both of his eyes closed into a slightly teasing smile to match his airy and unassuming tone. I rolled my eyes and laughed a bit. Since we are no longer his cute little Genin he has taken to calling us his little soldiers.

"I'm your only female student Bakashi."

"Details" He waved his hand lazily.

"I'm leaving tonight." Kakashi's slouched posture didn't change in the slightest but his muscles tensed slightly and his open grey eye was sharper peering down at me. He was one of the only ones in the inner circle who knew of my past and my real goals-all of them- and he's surprisingly been the most outspoken on me not leaving on this mission. We've but heads on this and there has been an underlying tension between us since then. He doesn't want me to go rogue, to go into the darkness, to be somewhere he or anyone else cannot be to protect me. "I know you don't want me going into such a dangerous mission but frankly I don't give a fuck. I'm going and before I leave I need us to be on good terms, for you to accept me going on this mission. You of all people know why I'm doing what I'm doing so please… I'll even buy you the next issue of Icha Icha if you stop being so obnoxiously passive aggressive." A large hand placed itself on top of my head and ruffled my hair, his chuckle resonating through the room.

"Do you promise?" His eye twinkled with childish glee and he let out a girlish giggle before getting a bit more serious, the tense air was thankfully gone. I'm not mad, I just don't want to lose another person close to me. I don't like the Idea of you leaving but I know at this point I can't stop you. Remember not to die and don't act like an idiot, you have a tendency to do that sometimes." **(A/n Kakashi is one of the hardest characters to write for sometimes I feel like I make him to OOC in a bad way)**

"That never happens." The grin on my face blossomed and I felt content with his hand on my head. The suffocating feeling of the most easygoing person being mad at me was never a pleasant one. "Can you summon your dogs, I promised bull I'd bring him a treat before I leave and Pakkun promised to let me touch his paws." I clasped my hands together and put on my best puppy dog eyes that seemed to work on him the best.

"Maa maa You spoil them too much, Bull never stops talking about you."

"That's because he know's I'm the best and one day he's going to leave you for me." Kakashi placed his hand over his hear dramatically.

"You're so mean little soldier. My pups love me too much to leave me." Kakashi summoned them and asked them who was better. All of them walked over to him except Bull who like the loyal boy he was came to me and placed his massive body in my lap like a lapdog. I gave Kakashi a smug smirk and fed Bull an extra treat and accepted some kisses from him. Like a big happy family (they named me their honorary mother and treat giver) and played with our little murdery children, Bull stayed in my lap the whole time. Pakkun wasn't lying when he said the pads of his paws were soft, they were like pillows! When it was time to leave, Kakashi gave me a hug and a very loving head pat and ruffle of my hair. I even got to touch his. I kissed his cheek as well as all the dogs and left. The weight of each goodbye was weighing heavier and heavier on my chest, the thoughts of Itachi and my father were what kept me going forward.

I took a deep breath and opened the door with a large black and white uchiwa fan on the front of it. Both Uchiha who took residency there were outside at their own personal training ground. I made my way into their kitchen and brought out a few pots and pans to make a simple recipe of dumplings with cabbage, a light amount of chicken (Since Uchiha don't ear red meat), carrots, and cooked it while I made a side of rice and had soy sauce on the side for flavor and dipping. I made enough to take home for Neji, Hanabi, Zabuza, and Hiashi too. I'm still not a good cook per-say but this was simple enough and after 6 months of practice I damn well better be good at making it. The aromas filled the kitchen and the food was almost fully cooked when the boys returned home.

"You are a gift from Kami Imouto I'm sooo hungry Sasu-chan was being sooo mean to me today and wouldn't go eat Dango with me and I can't just go alone!" Whined Shisui as he came beside me and rubbed his cheek against mine and stuck his dirty fingers in the pot of dumplings, shoving one in his mouth. Sasuke scoffed and made his way over to me putting food on his plate as he questioned me with his eyes. Once we had our food and were eating I spoke up.

"I'm leaving tonight."

"Is it really that time already?" Shisui questioned, he's asked to take my place more than once but with everything going on, I cannot let him do it. He strives for peace so much and I wouldn't let him be pushed into the darkness anymore that he has been. "Ohh Imoutoo I'm going to miss you so much! Make sure you kick lots of ass and if you get hurt I will punish you severely. Dressing you like a doll will seem like child's play compared to what will happen if you're injured." His voice was teasing as always (even though I knew he was serious and I would be in big trouble if he knew I got injured) and he had such a loving smile on his face. I was sitting nuzzled into his arms (his body still a lot longer than my small one making me feel like a little kid), the safe feeling of my peace-loving 'brother' enveloped me as he gave me lessons on safety and made me go over every inch of the plan until he was sure I knew it through and through. Shisui picked me up like a baby and carried me to his room, grabbed a scroll, and walked back downstairs. I laughed the whole way, enjoying the feeling of being a child again.

He opened the scroll and inside was provisions. There were some of his old clothes for me to wear at a moment's notice (it was mainly warm clothes for when I'm somewhere not hot like Konoha), a set of new Kunai, chlorine tablets **(water purification tablets), **a large pack of Akimichi ration bars, more money than I'd know what to do with, a few letters for Itachi, and a letter for me. Shishi also pulled out a box and there was a small ring to go on my pinky finger with a crystallized Uchiha symbol and Shisui's chakra infused in it so he could send his messenger birds to find me wherever I am. I put the ring on the same hand Gaara's sand bracelet was on. The flower was beautiful but overtime it morphed into a bracelet of sorts like the one he gave me earlier on which was nice because it was easier than carrying around a sand rose all the time. After Shisui helped me carefully seal everything back into the scroll, he hugged me tightly as if he was afraid of letting me go. Being the ADHD boy he is, he chatted nonstop bringing up anything and everything we talk about to make up for the lost time that is about to ensue. He also finally told me how next month he was being reinstated as a Jonin.

He told be that he and Zabuza are still betting on my romantic involvement but instead of just two people, they are making bets on everyone and when people will confess. It seems like I might have actually started a harem, even if it's only for shits and giggles to them. And now that Itachi will hopefully come back, he is close to the top of the list on confessing. The ammo Shisui and Zabuza would get to tease me mercilessly if they found out about Sasuke and Shikamaru would destroy my life and hopefully Sasuke keeps his mouth shut, I still need to fully process my feelings but it will stay on the back burner now (it's not like I don't love all of them, I just don't know in what ways and maybe they are just hormonal or something like all teenagers are) and whatever happens, happens.

Shisui gave me one last hug when Sasuke came in. With a sly smile and an eyebrow wiggle, he sang out to us.

"Have fun lovebirds."

Sasuke instantly came and sat down, pulling my head into his lap and running his fingers through my hair. It was a calming action for the both of us, one that we have done since childhood. His long fingers mindlessly braided and un-did small braids in my hair as we talked about everything plan-wise. Once all of the planning was over, the atmosphere was lighter once again and we sat watching looking out the window at the crescent moon in comfortable silence.

"Hey duckbutt?" I called out enjoying the slight twitch that his eyes do at the nickname.

"Hn." His stupid language, I finally realized I've spent so much time with him that I can differentiate the differences in each of his stupid grunts. Sometimes we would have a full conversation where he would grunt answers and somehow I always knew what he was saying. I've basically gotten him down to a science, a science that Naruto understands now too. Either way, it's annoying.

"Dammit for once can you talk like a normal person. If you talk in your stupid language one more time tonight I'm going to beat your pretty-boy ass senseless." I was glaring up at him but with the calm feeling of his hands still in my hair, it turned out more like a pout. He raised one of his eyebrows in a mocking manner and his pale lips turned into an arrogant smirk.

"Hn. Freak." Which translates to '_give it your best shot freak' _and I pushed myself out of his lap and ran to the kitchen where Shisui's desserts were stored. I quickly grabbed what was most likely a pack of cookies and ran, Sasuke coming after me. I manuvered effortless across the room and jumped over the couch. When Sasuke came into a range where he couldn't dodge me no matter what, I pounced on him. I moved fast and the sudden change in direction was enough to stun him so that I could pin him to the ground. I was pressing my weight against him and using chakra in my knees -to stay planted to the floor- and chakra was infused in the hand that had his arms pinned to the ground so that he was unable to fight back. I grinned deviously and brought the sugary treats to his mouth. I sent a shock into my hand and he opened his mouth just enough for me to oh so violently shove the food into his mouth. My empty hand went over his lips to keep hi from spitting out the food and I laughed at furrow of his brows, his face contorting to one of pure disgust.

"Swallow it Duckbutt. I'm sure Naruto has taught you spitters are quitters." His eyes widened in rage and in a move Anko must have taught him, he cancelled out my chakra in my knees and swiftly flipped our positions. There was a deadly glint in his eyes as he swallowed the snack and licked the last bit of sugar off his lips, gagging at the sweet taste. Even being pinned, I was laughing victorious at pissing him off and getting him to eat his least favorite food.

"You're. So. Dead." His coal eyes locked with my lavender ones. There was a hint of red reflected in his eyes but we stayed locked in our staring competition. I blinked first and his eyes flickered over my body. I knew exactly what he wanted next and started thrashing in his grip violently. He held strong and I was beyond annoyed at how much stronger he had become. Normally I'd be set free by now if Naruto wasn't helping him.

"Don't you dare. You fucking asshole I swear I'm going to-" I was cut off as laughter bubbled out of my lips. I was squirming underneath him as he used one of his hands to tickle me. I couldn't stop laughing and it was making my abs hurt. Tears were streaming down my face and I was gasping for breath and begging him to stop (while throwing in insults that were barely understandable through my laughing). Sasuke and Naruto found out about me being ticklish on a mission. We were babysitting little kids after tickling them, they wanted revenge and decided to tickle us. Naruto we already knew was ticklish so he dodged the little heathens with his life. Sasuke did not like to be touched and one glare was all he needed to get them to stop. I on the other hand didn't think I was ticklish. I wasn't in the last life and thought that transferred over to this life… I was so mistaken. I felt bad so I let them catch me and one second in I was laughing my ass off. Before I could get them to stop, Naruto and Sasuke decided to tag team and pin me down letting them relentlessly run their fingers over my underarms and sides until I was ready to piss myself. I vowed them to secrecy and promised to kill them if they tried to tickle me. Sasuke being the ass he is was mad at me for feeding him cookies so this is how he enacted revenge.

He finally felt like I'd had enough and stopped, letting me catch my breath. He was quietly laughing at me as I gasped out curses at him. He had a content smile on his sharp features as his body stayed hovering over mine. His eyes seemed to trace each feature of my face and the longer it continued the more his smile diminished, leaving him with a blank face and pensive eyes. He leaned his forehead against mine, bangs brushing against my cheek as he stared into my eyes. Finally he rolled off and laid next to me, pulling me against his chest.

"What's wrong?"

"I feel like I'm losing everything all over again. Naruto and you are gone, I'm going to be in the ANBU, I need revenge, Itachi needs to come home and have his name praised but is it worth us splitting up like this?" He was talking lowly, more to himself than me I think. It was a moment where he wanted me to know what he was thinking. He wanted to understand why he felt like he was losing his family all over again. There was a battle with his brain, he wanted us to stay together and wait for Naruto to come home and be Team 7, but he needed Itachi to come home, needed Danzo to die but having us split up was hard, he felt like he would lose us if we left him, he felt like he would be alone like when the massacre happened and he thought we were all dead. I grabbed his hand in mine and he squeezed it tightly.

"You're just being broody. We're all going to be together soon, I don't want to be away from you guys either but this has to happen. You aren't losing anything, if anything distance makes the heart grow fonder and when we all are together again it will be even better than before."

"Hn I'm not brooding." I punched his arm at the Hn and he smirked. I finally stood up and together we walked to the door. Before I could leave, he took his index and middle finger and poked me in the forehead . My eyes widened and he shut the door in my face.

I went to my final stop… home. My room was barren from me packing away everything and hiding it and I packed up everything I could travel easily with. My bag was on the center of my bed and I placed the last few scrolls inside of it. I grabbed the leftover food from dinner and placed it in the fridge knowing it would get eaten by Hanabi and Neji within the next few days. It was already late and Hanabi was sleeping. Zabuza was off on a mission for a possibly few more days so as much as I wanted to say goodbye I couldn't. I left him an extra long letter because of that. I walked into Hanabi's room and laid on the bed next to her, running my hand over her hair as she slept softly. I placed a kiss on the top of her head and carefully left my present out for her. A special kimono and doll dress (fucking Shisui) were 2 things of mine she absolutely adored and so I laid them out on the floor next to her bed so she knew they were hers now. She would do them better justice than I did and would have something of mine to wear while she grows up away from me. I wanted to say goodbye when she was awake but I just couldn't. Her big doe eyes, her sweet shyness. If I saw her like that I don't know if I could leave her so I waited until she slept. I would be easier for both of us, less tears. She shifted a bit and blinked open her sleepy eyes.

"Nee-chan you're home?"

"Hai goodnight my Hime. I love you and promise to be back home someday. I love you so much." She was sleepy and didn't understand my words, just falling back asleep with a small smile as she mumbled out.

"Night. I love you too." I kissed her again rushed out before I could cry. I grabbed my backpack and flashed to the gate of the village. Taking one last look at my home, tears freely flowed down my face as they shined brightly against the moonlight.

_Dear Panda-kun,_

_I'm sorry it has taken me so long to respond. Congratulations on becoming the Kazekage, I knew you could do it. You are more deserving of it than anyone else I can think of. You are going to learn some things about me soon and I need you to understand that they are not true. Please believe me when I say everything I'm doing is for a reason, for my dreams and goals to come to fruition. I need you to burn this letter as soon as you read it. I am going to be undercover in a dangerous situation so I will not be able to see you or write to you for a while. I can't tell you how proud I am of you and all you have accomplished. I owe you so much, as much as you say you learn from me, I have learned so much from you in return. You are amazing Gaara and I love you so much and even if I am not there I am protecting you within the shadows. Do not worry about me. I promise as soon as it is ok I will contact you again. You will understand everything in time and I wish this wasn't goodbye but for now it is. Lead your people like the person I know you are, I believe in you.I love you so much and will miss your letters._

_Love,_

_Hinata_

After I had left Konoha, Sasuke joined the ANBU under the control of Danzo Shimura. To convince Danzo to trust him and let him into his branch of the ANBU Sasuke said he waned to join for revenge on the murderer of his family, pretending to still think it was Itachi. He knew he had to be stronger and the only way to be strong enough to defeat the man who is the main reason for ruining his big brother's life. The only way to get this strength is to work under one of the strongest ninja in Konoha, one who will train him to defeat his bother and if he gained that power, he would in turn protect the village. Danzo being the greedy bastard he is agreed to taking Sasuke into the foundation knowing he had another powerful Uchiha pawn to do his bidding, and one day gain another eye from. Sasuke began his training immediately and his plan to get close enough to know everything about Danzo began.

Naruto was on his training trip with Jiraiya where he was learning what it takes for him to be a frontline fighter as a seal master. Naruto doesn't know his full lineage but after talking when we were younger and telling him about Uzumaki's being seal masters, he's been set on learning it (along with all of his other crazy skills and one's he's going to develop later on. He's gonna be even more god-like). Haviing Jiraiya teach him was the best thing possible, especially since now that I suspect he's learning the Flying Thunder God technique. From what he explained, he's working on a technique that produces seals from his chakra to basically reverse summon himself to each seal and one day will get it to be as fast as the Yellow Flash. He's not only working on seals, he's working on trying to contact Kuruma and trying to control the massive amounts of the angry foxes chakra. The process was difficult and more often than not Naruto would lose control of the fox and need it to be sealed away before he unleashes too much power and kills someone or himself.

With all their students gone Kakashi, Zabuza, Shsui, and Anko have formed a temporary team to be the perfect assassination unit that isn't ANBU. Kakashi has been working furthering his Sharingan with the aid of Shisui, he'll probably know how to use the Mangekeyo by now. He's also working on new lightning releases to incorporate into his attacks. Zabuza is still excelling in his swordsmanship and is finding new ways to take someone out with a giant ass sword, as well as how to speed up his water attacks and incorporate them into his Silent Killing technique. Shisui is just being himself, regaining the title of Shisui of the body flicker once more. He really doesn't need the Shairingan to be fast, at this point he's probably faster than Gai. Each member of Team 7 is off doing their own thing and that leaves me….

There's a map held in my left hand as I stared up at the small yet beautiful gold gate of a civilian village located between Konoha and Kumo. The village is called Gōrudo Village which seems to fit perfectly. It's been about a week since I left and with luck that rivaled none other, I encountered some bandits who mentioned something about 4 ninja from Otogakure, one of whom had 6 arms. This was the lead I was looking for and with a bit of snooping and a few well placed threats, the bandits told me that they were heading to Gōrudo Village to find something. If I could get the sound 4 to tell me where the hell Orochimaru was, or at least a hideout or two, I'd be closer to finding my father. I was dressed in civilian clothing and because I was on the trail of Orochimaru's henchmen, I had in brown contacts to hide my defining Hyuga trait. I was suppressing my chakra back down to that of a normal Genin and entered the village filled with people fluttering about.

A woman in her late 40's came over to me with a kind smile on her tanned and sightly wrinkled face. She was exuding mom vibes in her kind and gentle movements. There was the slightest hint of sadness in her eyes and she was carrying a bag full of different medical remedies that seemed to fit for someone with pneumonia.

"Hello my dear, I'm Himiko what brings a cutie young lady like you to our village?" I put a small smile on my face not wanting to let the bloodlust that I was feeling through.

"I'm just passing through and need a place to rest before I finish my journey back home to my father. If it wouldn't be too much of a bother Himiko-san, can you please show me to a place to stay."

"Oh yes of course dear." She began walking forward and I followed. She chatted with me, asking me questions about myself (which I answered in the most vague ways possible) and my family and telling me about different things to do in the village before I leave. Himiko smiled and greeted all of the stand owners we passed by, they were all kind but each of them looked at her in such pity that I finally couldn't take it.

"Himiko-san, I don't mean to overstep boundaries but like that's a shitload of medicine you're carrying. Who is it for?" Her kind smile faded slightly and her grip on the bag tightened as she raised one hand to clutch at her chest.

"It's fine, I was waiting for you to ask. The medicine is for my son, he's been very sick and the doctor's we've seen cant fix him or are to expensive to heal him so I've been trying everything. I just worry he won't make it, he's so young and his health keeps declining." There was a tear that escaped from her deep green eyes. I huffed in annoyance at myself, here I am aiming to kill some people but I can't help but get caught up in a mushy sob story. Some kind of rogue I am.

"If you don't mind. I could take a look. I'm extremely versed in medical ninjutsu and can hopefully heal him." She looked at me skeptically but there was a glint of hope on her face. "Besides doctor's are a waste of time anyways, most of them are greedy assholes who only heal for the fortune and fame of it all." She let out a laugh of agreement and changed directions.

"Thank you Hinata-chan. I do not have much to give you but please." She grasped my hands in hers. "Please help my son to the best of your ability." I nodded and followed her inside her house and into a bedroom. There was a small boy with extremely pale skin laying propped up with pillows on a bedroll. He was visibly sweating and the cold towel on his head seemed to do nothing. The blankets were pulled up to his chin and he opened his eyes- a dull green compared to the vibrancy of his mothers- and he smiled a bit.

"Mama" He said quietly then broke out into a fit of coughs that made his body shake. His coughing was wet and I could tell they hurt by the wince and glassiness that formed in his eyes. His mother rushed over to him and smoothed his hair down whispering kindly into his ear as he tried to catch his breath.

"Ko my sweet boy, this nice girl is Hinata-chan. She's going to take a look at you and see if she can help your coughing not hurt so much ok buddy. Can you be a good boy for Hinata-chan?" He nodded weakly and gave me a sweet smile that was so bright compared to his sickly form. It looked so much like Hanabi that I couldn't help but give a grin back to him as I kneeled down by his side.

"Hi Ko-kun, I'm going to put my hands over your tummy and they are going to glow green. It might feel a bit weird but it's nothing bad. Can you lift your shirt up for me?" I did my best to talk to the 4 year old like the child he was. He moved his shirt up his chest and I placed my hands over his stomach and ribs. I activated my Byakugan and looked only down to his inner organs. His lungs were filled with fluid that had to have been there for months, it's not a difficult thing for me to fix, but medical advancements for non-ninja at this point are still pretty primeval. The blue aura in my hands flickered swiftly from blue to green and I went to work. I used my chakra to slowly enter his civilian chakra coils making sure to do even less than I normally would. Once his body seemed to accept my chakra-he giggled when it was happening so I knew he wouldn't react badly-I began to surround his lungs and use my chakra to coat the fluid and bit by bit I pushed it out of his system, having it come out through his chest and placing it in the bucket beside me. After 6 or so times, I had all of the fluid removed and began to heal the damaged tissues of his lungs. 20 minutes later I was fully finished and managed to get his fever to break as well.

"Alright Ko-kun, I'm all done. When you wake up, you're going to be good as new and can go back outside and play!" His eyes shined and he pulled me into a small hug.

"Thanks you Hinata-san, you are super awesome."

Ko was sleeping from exhaustion and to have his immune system fight the rest of the battle and throughout his rest, his face regained some of his color. I talked with his mom and she cried into my shoulder in pure joy.

"You really are an angel Hinata-chan." My heart clenched at her words. An angel, no way in hell. Not anymore. She insisted on repayment and so I got me a nice bag of cookies for the road. Himiko gave me directions to a hotel and lay down beside her son as I slipped out the front door.

—

The tip of the Sound ninja 4 being in Gōrudo Village was not wrong but it wasn't right either. They were already gone by the time I had arrived and I didn't figure that out until day 2. IT was working out though because when you've seen enough action movies and spent enough time formulating plans like I have, finding information about a man with 6 arms was not that difficult… if you knew where to look. For almost a month I have been tracking Kidomaru (mainly because he has the most defining features other than Sakon and Ukon but lowkey if he wore a cloak he'd look relatively normal in the crazy world of ninjas). They are gathering something for god knows what, probably ingredients to make something for Orochimaru to switch bodies because Kami knows that it is not just a simple ninjutsu. T

he problem is they seem to hit up each village I have gotten confirmation of them being at, at random. I want to look for a pattern to figure out their next movement. I'm no Shikamaru but with nothing but my drive to find them right now, analyzing possible patterns they are following is seemingly easy. That's the issue though, there are so many possible patterns they are following that I could just be right from my initial glance and they are moving at random. Knowing Orochimaru is a genius in his own right, he could have them move in a pattern that is so random it seems like it isn't anything but is actually a real pattern. That also means he could be letting them move randomly but have people think it is a pattern making me search for a pattern that isn't actually there: it's a perfect application of the Gambler's fallacy. It's one or the other and I have to be right or I'm back to square 1.

The one thing I started to map out by their movements was the empty spots, not having them go there right now (this is solely if the snake thinks people are tracking him, which he probably knows they are even if he doesn't know its me) might mean those areas are where possible hideouts reside. Either that or the hideouts are hiding in plain sight and I'm missing something. I'm hoping the former but it's most likely the ladder. I've been moving nonstop and as luck would have it, I was at an underground bar and some rogue ninja had loose lips, letting it slip that he heart the sound ninja 4 split up for the time being to do something important. That was a perfect opportunity for me, instead of dividing them myself, they did it for me. Although I was looking for Kidomaru first, the man- after a few drinks and a bit of seductive whispering because ninja men like companionship as much as others (praise Lady Seiko once again for her Kunoichi training)-he told me about how the big one was in the red light district a village no more than 30 a 30 minute sprint from here.

Swiftly, I poisoned the man's drink and pretended to go to the bathroom, slipping away and headed at breakneck speed to the red light district of the civilian village the man talked about. Jirobo is probably in his early 20's but is an ugly SOB inside and out so getting ladies, especially one's like normal Kunoichi's who are fixated on looks (*cough* Sasuke *cough*), is not his forte. I'm guessing the only way he can have stimulation that isn't by his hand is through places like red light districts where looks don't matter as much as money or protection or whatever people are willing to sell sex or drugs for. That works out for me, if a man like him is off guard- thinking more with his dick than his head- I can hopefully get him alone and in whatever means necessary get information from him.

Dressed in a low cut kimono with thigh high slits, I walked through the red light district, ignoring the whistles of drunk men and women. I sauntered my way into a bar that I'd deduced was where most men picked up hookers, girls running from their problems to have 'fun,' people looking to cheat, traitors spilling secrets about their hidden villages, and drug dealers. The lights were dim yellow ones but it made the mood fit for people trying to seduce one another. The bar was surprisingly nice, everything was made of dark stone and if it wasn't in the red light district and I wasn't out for blood, I'd probably enjoy the beauty of it. There were people everywhere but I snagged an optimal seat at the furthest stool in the corner at the bar. It gave me full access to see everything around me. The bartender came up and I asked a drink of whatever tasted the most fruity and least alcoholic. He didn't even bother to see if I was of age, not like my clothes and chest made me look young or anything.

I mapped out the doors first, exits were necessary if things went awry; there were only 2. I looked around the bar searching for Jirobo. There were men and women ranging from their 17's to their 70's, everyone in their own conversations and many were seeming to be doing shady business with one another. Another drink was placed in front of me. I quirked my brow at the bartender but he said nothing. A hand with rings way to big to look cool was placed on my shoulder, I followed the hand up the suit and was met with a man who looked like this world's equivalent of a Yakuza boss who does his work behind the scenes. His hair was black and slicked back, he had beady brown eyes, a scar on his cheek, and a lecherous smirk on his lips.

"I'm Naoba and I couldn't help but notice you and I thought it was a shame that a beauty like you was all alone. How about you finish your drink I so graciously provided and we leave here together. A woman like you deserves a man who can buy you the world." The door to the bar opened and my target walked in, his orange hair and large stature standing out like a sore thumb even in a place like this. My eyes narrowed dangerously as he took his seat in the corner opposite of mine. My eyes flickered back to the man in with his hand still on my shoulder. With ease, I removed his hand and smiled teasingly.

"That sounds wonderful but I like my men to be strong and dangerous like that large man in the corner, not some half-baked Yakuza loser like you _Naoba._" His smirk faded and his jaw muscles tensed as he grit his teeth looking over at Jirobo. They locked eyes and the trap was set. Nothing better to trap a man than to play with their ego. Naoba scoffed and looked me in the eyes.

"Listen here sweet cheeks, I'm Naoba Sanada, Chunin extraordinaire and leader of one of the biggest underground crime rings. I am strong and plenty dangerous, that ugly fuck over there has nothing on me." I tried to hold in my retort, a Chunin who has no chakra presence what-so-ever and thinks he is the shit. What a man. He raised his voice after each word gaining attention of majority of the people here, especially one Sound ninja who looked more and more pissed. I closed my eyes and took one long drink to keep from releasing any KI and continue suppressing my chakra as Jirobo moved closer and closer to us. When he was close enough I opened my eyes and looked between the two.

"Wow a Chunin! Fight him like you so declared and I'll go with the winner and do _whatever_ you want. I'm pretty sure big boy has no problem with it, he seems itching to fight you." When Naoba took a look at the size difference between them, he gulped but kept his arrogant facade as he agreed to the fight. Jirobo wasted no time in accepting too and we all made out way outside unaware of the eyes watching our every move in interest as they followed us to the battle ground.

The fight between Jirobo and Naoba was pathetic to say the least. After one hit, Naoba was out; there wasn't even the need to use ninjutsu. I walked over to Jirobo while pretending to be amazed. All I wanted to do was rip him apart to find his master making it difficult to reign in the KI threatening to blast out. I placed my hand on his bicep and gave him a smile, looking up at him with half lidded eyes trying not to knock myself out for how much of a slutty idiot I felt like. He grinned down at me and seemed surprised that I actually came over to him.

"That was impressive, you really are strong and dangerous. I'm all yours for however long you want me. Let's go somewhere more _private._" I trailed a line down his arm and he gripped my hand pulling me alongside of him.

"I cant believe you'd expect anything less. You're mine for the night." **(A/N I feel like such an Idiot writing this hahaha) **Hook, line, and sinker. Get his attention and make him believe I want him so we can go somewhere secluded and I can get the information I need as well as getting rid of one more snake deserving death. We went deep into the forest behind the bar my hands were twitching in anticipation. His Shinobi senses kicked in and he stopped glaring down at me skeptically.

"Why are we in the middle of the forest? We could get caught here." I smirked and his chakra started building up slightly.

"I can tell you like to get a little wild. The anticipation of getting caught makes this all the more _exciting._" His chakra stopped and soon I was pressed up against a tree as he leaned down to kiss me. In an instant I knocked him off of me with a chakra infused punch and he plummeted through a tree. I was already back on top of him using my hidden Kunai and ninja wire to hog tie him and keep him pinned to the tree. I took out the contacts and activated my Byakugan, hitting him in different Tenketsu to prevent him from using his chakra to enhance his physical attacks.

"You fucking bitch, I'll crush you. You don't know who you're messing with." I jumped and sent a roundhouse to his face, the tree shook and he grunted sinking to his knees.

"I know exactly who I'm messing with. Jirobo of the sound 4. Let's make this simple, you tell me where Orochimaru's hideouts are or I inflict the same pain Kabuto inflicted on me. You've got something that I need back." His eyes widened in recognition and a maniacal smile formed on his face.

"So you're the stupid Hyuga girl who escaped. When I get out of here I'm going to have fun crushing you like we did with your father. He was a tough one to take down." I ignored him talking about my father, there is no way he is gone. The kunai I was spinning around my finger lodged itself deep into his thigh. He groaned and pulled against the tree, the wire cutting into his thick skin.

"I guess asking you something like that was too hard, I've met rocks with bigger brains than you. How about something easy…where are your teammates?" His deep labored breaths did nothing to deter him. He bared his teeth and kept thrashing around.

"I'll never betray my lord like that." I ripped the Kunai out and shoved it into the socket of his shoulder, pushing it around until the I heard familiar pop of his shoulder moving out of socket. He roared in anguish, cursing me out and promising imminent death by his hand.

"Wrong answer. Oh well, I guess I'm not going to get anything from you and torture is no fun when you don't beg for mercy." I pushed chakra into my knuckles and with a hit as brutal as his fighting style, I released chakra on impact and scrambling his brains and cracking his skull. I went through his belongings finding a scroll with the locations the Sound 4 has stopped at and where they plan on going. The guilt I was feeling for killing so mercilessly I shoved deep down, I need to be the darkness to do what I'm doing. I'm not a hero, I can't be, I wont be. This is the only way I'll get my dad back and get the Akatsuki to recruit me so I can save them from the shitty hand's life has dealt most of them.

I put Jirobo's body over my shoulder making sure he wasn't going to bleed on me and walked towards the nearest bounty center. In my bingo book he's worth 500,000 Yen and I need that money for my travels; my next stop being the Canyon located outside Tanigakure. There I should find Kidomaru. Hopefully he'll speak and give me information on the hideouts and my father. I should also rescue Suigetsu and Juugo, I can't believe I forgot about them. Suigetsu is getting fucked over by Orochimaru as much as I was probably, I know he's experimented on by people like Karin and Juugo is just out of luck in the life department, being extorted and Bi-polar. I'm hoping Itachi or I can calm him down enough for him to be able to live his life not in fear of hurting others.

On my journey to the collection office, I once again missed the watchful yellow eyes following my every movement.

The bounty collection office was held underground in a dingy old building that nobody would look twice when passing by; it's a perfect inconspicuous building. The inside of the building smelled of dirt and formaldehyde (probably to keep the bodies preserved for identification, autopsy, and whatever else) it was putrid. I opened the bingo book to Jirobo's page and slammed his dead body on the metallic autopsy bed. An old and burly man wearing a white lab coat walked out of the hallway to the left, going to the opposite side of the desk. He was one of the biggest men I've ever seen; I had to crane my neck to look up at him. His eyes trailed over Jirobo then over me. He raised an eyebrow in disbelief and a humorous smile curved across his scarred lips, a look that seemed off-putting for his hardcore look.

"Soo little girl you managed to take down Jirobo of the sound 4. I do have to say I'm impressed that such a small child was able to take down a person so wanted on the Bingo Book." He moved his face right in front of mine, a smile that reminded me of Shisui's stretching his face. "My favorite part of this job is hearing how people are killed so… TELL ME HOW YOU DID IT!" He screamed in excitement. I briefly explained how I took him out, leaving out majority of the personal reasons. He looked disappointed at the kill since he was probably hoping for some grand battle scene and amazing displays of power.

"Alright little missy, last thing before I give you your reward is I need to know your name and a bit of information so I can send out the word of how Jirobo's death and who did it. Honestly, I was thinking Kakuzu would have been the one to bring him in, that man always goes for the larger bounties." My interest was piqued at the mention of Kakuzu. It's good for me to know that he passes through this area sometimes, I need to find a way to get contact with the Akatsuki and he might be the easiest way to do that.

"Hinata Hyuga, 13, Jonin from Konoha." He flipped through his massive bingo book and stopped at a page.

"Oh so you are already in the bingo book. Not much information on you, but this update will be beneficial. You already have a bounty on you for being an heir but with this, the bounty on your head will increase that much more!" He counted out my bounty while talking and handed it over. With a finger wave, he bid me goodbye and I left quickly just barely missing a foul-mouthed Jashinist and a Large red and green eyed man entering the collection office and inquiring about me. Their interest getting the better of them (Kakuze mainly for getting the bounty on my head or using me for ransom against my clan) so they decided to follow me.

—

I was moving quickly alongside the barrier of Tanigakure making my way to the canyon that supposedly has a rare form of blue ginger that when in combination it is supposed to relieve many forms of disease and sedate most forms of pain. I never actually knew if it existed or not, it sounds too good to be true but I guess Orochimaru heard about it too and is probably sending Kidomaru after it so he doesn't have to feel the pain between the times he switches bodies. Because they are going after the hypothetical herb now, Orochimaru is in a weak state and probably withering in pain. At least I hope so. This means that he is stationary and cannot move hideouts at the moment so if I am able to get information from one of them, I can find him before he regains strength and take him out.

I jumped down the canyon, not the best idea but it works to get down there faster. After falling about half way down, the adrenaline was rushing through my head and I placed my feet against the rocks and pushed chakra to my feet to slow my fall. I was skidding to a stop and when close enough to the ground, I released the chakra and pushed off the wall landing into the grass on the ground. The area surrounding me was otherworldly. Little sunlight reached through the canopy of the trees so the area should have been dark but instead it was glowing. The plants and rock surrounding me were glowing different colors, each flower was literally sparkling with bright pinks and blues. I was in awe, if blue ginger actually exists, this would be the place to find it. The area around me was so dense with chakra, it was overwhelming my senses. I activated my Byakugan and looked around but just like when sensing the chakra, it was burning so bright I couldn't focus on the plants around me without feeling overwhelmed, I had to look through them to be able to see with it on.

I was suppressing my presence as I moved through the scenery. I reached a cave area and decided to check it out. Like other areas around here, there was a thin spindle of spider webs covering the entrance so I pulled out a kunai to cut the spiderwebs around the entrance but they didn't cut through. I realized why a second to late because I was wrapped up and forced into the air by a spindle of thread.

"Fuck, I'm such fucking idiot." A man with 6 arms was sticking to the base of the tree in front of me. His grin was sickening as he looked me over, the smile fell slightly.

"Dammit I was looking for a fun battle but all I got was a puny little girl. I guess I'll just kill you quickly and get it over with. I have better things to do." I grit my teeth and stopped suppressing my chakra, releasing the bloodlust I've been suppressing. He raised an eyebrow and looked more pleased. "Soo you do have some kind of skills, that bloodlust is delicious. We could have had some fun, too bad you're trapped not. My spider silk is unbreakable and I'm on a time crunch to meet back with my team. Ukon is unbearable when I'm late." I activated my Byakugan and looked at the thread, his chakra runs through it completely but at certain points, the thread is thinner where less chakra is flowing through it. It is usually where the thread is the most bent. I pushed out chakra from each chakra point nearest the thinnest part of the thread, sharpening it like a needle and as soon as it reached the thread, I expelled it further and cut right through the chakra bonds releasing me to land on the ground.

"Jirobo is one of those teammates right? I took him out. Lucky for me he told me where the rest of you were heading so I can get the information I need. So tell me Kidomaru, where is Orochimaru now?"

"Those eyes, you're Hinata Hyuga. You are a perfect opponent for me, your use of the gentle fist is the only technique I know of to free you from my bindings. This is going to be fun! Kabuto mentioned capturing you at some point, he'll be so glad when I bring your dead body back to him. This is revenge for Jirobo." He began to spit out more webs from his throat and I had to keep the gentle fist to cut the webs before they could wrap themselves around me. I pushed off the ground aiming a strike to his chest but he used the threads connected to his fingers and flung himself around the tree and away from my attacks. I landed on the tree branch he was on and continued my pursuit towards the 6 armed freak. I spun a kick at him, flinging my whole bodu into the air and when he ducked to dodge the lead leg, I arched my back and rotated my hips and arms to have my other leg swing around. He wasn't ready for the amount of flexibility and speed this move had, it was a wild technique and having his focus on my lead leg enabled me to land the second hit directly through his chest, pushing the air out of his lungs. I had him against the tree branch and prepared to strike with the 8 trigrams 64 palms but he secreted a hardened version of his chakra spiderwebs to make armor that prevented me from hitting any Tenketsu points. Remembering the battle with Neji, I needed to end this quicker, my use of Hyuga techniques is nowhere near the level of skill he has. Kidomaru is smart, his level of analysis is up to par if not exceeding mine so I need to keep up my advantage of knowing his skills and him not knowing mine by continuously attacking and continuously switching my style of attack. I know I'm going to have to use my gentle fist more so than ever, it will push me past my limits but I refuse to lose and when he is on his deathbed I will find where my father is.

As the armor began crumbling off, I didn't let up. I infused a small point on the center of my left foot with chakra and sent a series of punches to Kidomaru. His 6 arms worked out to allow him to block my flurry of attacks while sending counter hits back for me to have to dodge as well. I sent a feint towards him and so he raised his to block and a kick to counter and I was ready for it. I brought my hands to the ground beneath me and sent my left foot through the opening of his guard, landing a harsh kick to his chin. Right on impact, I expelled the Chakra stored up in the small point on my foot and the attack was string enough it should have shattered his jaw. Kidomaru's neck snapped back and he was sent flying. There was a strong increase in power around me and I looked at Kidomaru. The black markings of the curse mark stage 1 were spread across the right side of his face and body. He was laughing loudly and it sent shivers down my spine.

"You fight with such rage and brutality, I would have been done for without my curse mark activation. Are you perhaps looking to find your father? Thats why you want to find Orochimaru right. This is so much more fun than I thought it would be. I can't wait to crush you, my little plaything." He put more distance between us knowing continuing in close combat would end in me destroying him. He needed to analyze my attack patterns and find the weakness within it. He did the same to Neji and I cannot let this continue to the extent that their battle went to. I need to incapacitate him soon and get information out of him, I cannot let him analyze me any further.

"You're going to tell me what I want to know you fucking reject spiderman." Kidomaru made the familiar hand signs for the summoning jutsu and a giant fucking spider appeared above me. It started spinning a sac and I knew a bunch of tiny spiders were going to come out of it to trap me so before it could finish, I preformed the summing jutsu as well, summoning a beautiful Lion that was about triple the size of a normal lion. She appeared before me and bowed. I bowed in return.

"Hinata-hime I am Maki daughter of Muramasa. What do you need my assistance for?" Her voice was low and soothing but there was an obvious sound of danger when she released a growl.

"Hello Maki, see that big ass spider above us. Please destroy it and any other spider that comes to attack me. Do whatever is necessary I will provide you with whatever payment you would like after this is over. Just be careful Maki." She had what was equivalent to a smirk on her face as she bared her dangerously sharp teeth. She spoke so proper and seemed so put together but the eager look on her face let me know she was excited for the prospects of a battle. The sight of my lion pressured Kidomaru to evolve into the second stage of the cruse mark. His tan skin turned burgundy and he grew devil-like horns at the base of his forehead, his canines were elongated and he ran his tongue over them in ecstasy; he was excited for the fight to continue. Maki put her weight on her hind legs and with a powerful jump, she latched onto the back of the spider and bit into the base of the spider's neck and pulled. The arachnid's head couldn't take the pressure of the stronger feline and it's head came off spraying the spider silk all over the ground. Kidomaru make a bow and sent an arrow shooting through the sac stuck to the tree and ripped it open. At least 200 spiders the size of my hand began falling out of the sky heading straight for me.

I never really had a big problem with spiders, I was afraid of them like any normal person and I would just kill it and be done with it but this many spiders all coming at me I let out a high pitched squeal of "Fuckkkkk" I never thought possible to come out of my mouth. Oh god if Shisui or anyone else ever heard about this I would never hear the end of it.

"What the hell is this? This is so gross MAKI get rid of them." Before the spiders could reach me, Maki released an earsplitting roar infused with wind that sent the spiders sailing and ripping them apart. I turned to Kidomaru with a smug smirk on my face only to be met with one him hiding behind a tree. The amount of chakra in the area prevented me from seeing what he was doing with my Byakugan, but I was at least able to pinpoint his location. I allowed Maki to go back to her realm and began to circulate the limited amounts of my chakra through my body and using it to surround me for better sensory of any incoming projectiles preparing to finish the fight. Kidomaru was behind a tree and pulled back on a bowstring, forming a hardened yellow arrow to shoot at me.

I felt a fast moving projectile moving into my chakra barrier and normally I would use palm rotation to deflect the weapon since it's moving too fast for me to dodge. Instead of protecting me from impact, I sent the chakra to cover the lower right side of my stomach where my appendix is for a protective coating. With a swift thrust of my hips to twist my body and pushed myself into a handstand to make it so that my right side took the impact of the weapon. As soon as it pierced through my side I reached my hand up and grabbed it before it could exit my body thanks to the chakra slowing it down. I let out a grunt of pain as I was knocked down by the force. I grabbed the thread hooked to the fletching of the arrow and with as much strength I could muster, I used a burst of chakra to push myself up the thread until I was face to face with Kidomaru. His face morphed into one of shock at my presence.

"Impressive, you managed to change it's trajectory with your chakra alone. Too bad for you, I'm bored and you are in no state to fight like that anymore. Pity, I was going to tell you about how fun it was to hear the yells of your father when Orochimaru was finished with him and where our hideouts lie; but now, you'll have to die not knowing anything" There was blood pouring out of my side and out of my mouth but I felt no pain. All of it was being overshadowed by the adrenaline and hatred I was feeling. I wrapped his thread around his neck to keep us connected and I sent hit after hit to his body using enough force that even blocking with his arms I shattered the bones in them, relishing in the sound of his bones cracking. We hit the ground making a crater on impact, the shockwave reverberating through both of our bodies.

"You bastard, tell me where the hell my father is! I have you at my mercy now. I've shattered your bones and with no effort at all I can shut down your entire chakra system and make you feel more pain that you can imagine. You've got a brain so use it, if you tell me what I want I will end you quick and painless." I let out yelling almost in a hysterical manner as I hovered over his body.

"I've heard you fought in such an unpredictable manner with the grace and beauty of a dancer but looking at you now, I see nothing less than a barbarian. You lost yourself and lost all rhyme and reason to your attacks, driven by rage will be the death of you little toy. Ripping your body up my thread was a smart way to bring you closer but without medical attention you are going to bleed out. Before yo die just know the rest of us won't give up our master we aren't like Jirobo. I'd rather die but sadly for you, I'm not going to be the one to die here." I was so fixated on his words I barely had time to react, I quickly moved my chakra around my body to mimic the substitution jutsu and managed to get myself out of his attack as he used a blade in his foot to stab me in the back. As soon as my substitution turned into a log, I jumped from the tree heading straight at him. I had no kunai left so I ripped out the arrow in my side and plunged it into where his carotid artery and jugular vein are side by side in his neck. His blood sprayed all over me and began to quickly flow out pooling on the ground beneath him. He let out gurgles and gasps for breath and I moved away to heal myself as I sat and watched for the few minutes it took for the blood to leave his system and the life to leave his eyes.

When the adrenaline was all gone, I'd finally calmed my mind enough to think rationally. He's right about one thing, I wont get information out of any of his teammates so the next best thing is to eliminate all of them. Without his extremely strong pawns, Orochimaru will not get the pain relief he needs and he will have nobody incredulously strong to do his battles for him. He will be losing important puzzle pieces to his success. The person I believe will provide me with the most insight into Orochimaru's whereabouts will be Sasori so any of Orochimaru's underlings are nothing but pieces for me to enact vengeance on. Take away the army, the king will fall sooner or later and when that happens, I will be the one doing it. I will take Orochimaru out and I will save my father from the prison that he got caught in from saving me.

I licked the blood from off my lips, cringing at the taste and got out Kidomaru's bingo book and located the nearest collection office to Ishigakure (where Tayuya should be heading). Before leaving, I went to the glowing blue stream running its course through the canyon and cleaned the blood off of me. I watched in morbid satisfaction at the water turning crimson surrounding me. I went underwater watching the glow of the creatures swimming around me for a few minutes and only when the water ran clear again did I get out. My clothes were ripped beyond repair, the only thing that thankfully survived was my bra. I took a step forward before crumpling to the ground in exhaustion. I found a tall tree and with the limited energy I had left, I unsealed the scroll Shisui had provided me and pulled out a fishnet top, a navy blue tank top to go over it and some standard black Jonin pants. It was nothing glamorous but until I eliminate the sound 4 and join the Akatsuki, this will have to do. I really don't want to pay for clothes I keep ripping in battle.

—

(_3d POV) After Hinata's battle with Kidomaru_

"Man I thought that collection office fucker was giving us shit when he said a girl took down that fatass Jirobo but watching her fight." The silver haired teenager **(A/N Hidan was 21 or 22 during the show so he'd be a teenager right now) **licked his lips in sadistic glee as he spoke animatedly to his masked companion. "She was fucking amazing. So fucking brutal, she didn't give a shit about his attacks. There was so much BLOOD. Gah, she watched him bleed out covered in his blood! Lord Jashin would be pleased to have a bitch like her serving him. I think I'm in love you greedy fucker." Hidan rambled on about the beauty of blood being spilled and how he knew she loved it too, how his Lord Jashin would accept her as another willing servant of his world of Chaos. He was excited to provide the girl as a worthy sacrifice to his Lord, but when he saw her take the arrow in the side and use that same arrow to pierce Kidomaru's neck, he was enamored with her. The blood dripping sensually (in his eyes only) down her face and body, how she watched the light fade from his eyes and the blood spurt from his neck. Hidan believed they were the same in their maniacal love of blood and pain, she would be perfect for serving Lord Jashin and in turn Lord Jashin would allow him to be with her. She was perfect and going to join the Akatsuki with him, then she could replace the greedy fucker and they'd spread the religion of Jashin to the world.

They were sitting at the top of an overhang watching the Hyuga girl sleep in the canyon. Kakuzu was deep in thought as he attempted to drown out the obnoxious rambling of the newest (and to him most annoying next to the blonde bomber) member of the Akatsuki and sadly teammate. His immortality is a curse to the notorious teammate killer. Kakuzu was impressed with the girl, he remembered Sasori talking about a Hyuga girl who interested him because of her knowledge or something and now he was starting to understand. She was impressive and extremely young for her skill levels but she also was brash and that made her weaker but she had indisputable skills. Her strength was rivaling if not exceeding his, she was quick and agile, she could use medical ninjutsu, and by the lack of ninjutsu he guessed she was holding back her full skills, showing just enough to kill her opponent in a show of brutality over swiftness. She had a vendetta and he wanted to know what Orochimaru did to piss off the heir of the Hyuga clan, supposedly one of the most calm clans in the Hidden Leaf.

He also was annoyed with the girl, she had killed Jirobo and now Kidomaru. 2 Shinobi on his high list of people he wanted the bounties but the small barely-a-teenager took them from him. Took down two people who should have been out of her league and looked like it was a simple spar-gone-wrong at this point. He was intrigued and was guessing with the interest Sasori showed, and Zetsu who he discovered was trailing the girl, she was either a potential candidate for the Akatsuki or was going to be eliminated. He was hoping for the second option to steal her money, girls were too expensive anyways. He knew though that he wanted to continue watching her before heading out for their next mission, and any information gained would be beneficial to the Akatsuki. Plus if his annoying teammate was fixated on her and her bloody battles, he would stop pestering Kakuzu about his 'greedy old ass'.

The lavender eyed girl woke up the next morning and went off to find her next target. The 'Zombie Combo' of the Akatsuki were trailing her never letting her get too close or too far. Once they decided they had enough information, they'd report back to the base and see what was to be done with the kid strong enough to take down Orochimaru's head pets.

**A/N: This is such a dope drawing one of my readers Monique did, Thanks so much for this Hinata beauty! Go follow her at LoveLikeAMelody (IDK how to link profiles so when I figure it out I will)**

After collecting the bounty on Kidomaru I knew my name was going to be spread around the nations, the collector already knew who I was when I arrived and the bounty on Kidomaru was even greater than the first. This might be the factor that pushed Tsunade to have to admit me as a rogue and will also hopefully be the adjuvant into getting enough of the Akatsuki's attention so they make me a member. With their help, I will save them and be able to use them to save my father. Entering Ishigakure was a major change for me. It's a village located between Iwa and Suna so the entire area was dry, rocky, and wind. It's basically the most boring place to live possible. The benefit of it is there isn't really anywhere to hide because there is no water or forests for protection which should make finding Sakon and Ukon much easier.

Sakon and Ukon are close combat fighters through and through, not only can they fight together, they can split apart and become two dangerously strong opponents. They also have the summoning of the Rashomon, a basically impenetrable wall, so a large attack can be blocked by them. My best bet is to take them out swiftly. I have no reason to fight them for information anymore, all I want is their blood on my hands so I will just have to do my best for a sneak attack and take them out before they can split, go into the second stage, or summon the Rashomon. The issue with that is I'm pretty sure because one head is in the front and the other protrudes from the back, they have vision on both sides so an attack from the back is likely to fail. The highest chance of success would to either hit them from the side or use a fast long-distance attack that they'll have no time to dodge. Being a puppet master right now would be so helpful.

I traveled through Ishigakure hiding my presence as a ninja while looking around for the creepy ass that is Sakon. Ahead of me in a small tea shop there was a commotion so I went to check it out and proudly parading himself as he sat on and tormented a man was Sakon. His dark purple lipstick stood out against his pale birdlike face. I waited at a store across the way until Sakon left the tea shop. Concealing my presence, I trailed behind him far enough that hopefully he wouldn't notice me. I activated my Byakugan to see his chakra so I could leave and gather my materials before finding him easier next time. His chakra was massive from the two people sharing his body and it flowed in irregular intervals.

The only way I could describe his chakra was aggravated like a feral dog. It moved like somebody who was constantly pissed of at the world and ready to violently attack anyone who passes by him. There almost seemed to be a second chakra flowing through the first, it reminded me of when I'd push my chakra into someone else's coils to speed up their healing. I'm guessing when Sakon and Ukon figured out how to merge bodies, their chakra coils merged together as well flowing both of their chakras together while still separately flowing between them. The second chakra only had a slight difference, it was more slow in its movements and it seemed to have a slightly darker tone like that of a more sadistic person, one who enjoys brutality and pain inflicted on others. Second only to Danzo at this point, Sakon's chakra was disturbing and held so much sadistic malice, even Orochimaru's chakra wasn't as demented as Sakon's. That scares me a bit and is all the more reason for me to kill him.

I stopped following Sakon after getting a close read on his Chakra and headed back to the inn I'm staying at to prepare everything. I opened a clear container with a slightly thick, translucent, dark green poison Shizune had prepared for me earlier. The smell of the poison was so intense like the scent of bleach but stronger. It made my eyes water right away and I had to put on a flu mask to not get sick from the intense smell. I carefully dipped the blades of each of my kunai into the jar of poison and hung them on a ninja wire to dry. I may not have the best aim to kill with any projectile weapons but I'm skilled enough to at least hit a target so even if I miss the kill shot, the fast acting, potent poison Shizune made will finish the kill or at least incapacitate one long enough for me to get in close for the kill. This poison was specially formulated to attack a person at a cellular level, destroying the red and white blood cells so quickly the body shuts down almost instantly and dies within the hour. It is perfect for someone like Sakun and Ukon whose Kekkei Genki works at a cellular level, they will either both die right away or be forced to split so one dies, giving me the opportunity to quickly kill the other. My fingers were twitching in anticipation; I want him dead and I want to send a message. Taking out the final two of the sound 4 is doing just that. I sealed the poison back up and filled my pack with the poisoned kunai.

After a good few hours of scouting the rocky terrain I found Sakon's chakra trail and it led me to the outskirts of the town where he was meeting up with somebody, his purple lips were twisted into a sickening grin. I laid low against the ground, using my Byakugan to see through the boulders I was using as cover. The two headed creep was distracted so I used that as a way to move myself to be on his right side. I slid 6 kunai out of their holder and placed 3 between the fingers in each of my hands. In a quick 1-2 succession I released the kunai on my right hand vertically so they cut off any area for him to jump and the kunai in my left hand spread out horizontally so he couldn't side step away from a hit. I cut off all directional movement so whichever way he dodges he will receive at least a small laceration. When the Kunai were about half a meter away from Sakon, he looked to his right and jumped up and to the left making the kunai impale in his lower thigh. Without hesitation, he ripped it out of his thigh and held it out in defense.

"You've been following me for a while. This attack is annoying me, I was hoping for a good fight but now, I'm going to kill you quickly." I stood up and smirked at him raising my left hand and counting down from 5. When I reached 1, he took a step forward and his breathing became shallow and his body stopped responding. His eyes were wide but then his body started shifting and he split into two with half of his body looking like it was made of stone. "Sorry Sakon, it's attacking at a cellular level so only one of us is going to live. Don't worry, I'm going to kill this annoying bitch where she stands." The green lipped twin turned his body to me as his brother collapsed to the ground. "You fucking bitch, I'm going to enjoy killing you for hurting my twin." He was laughing like a crazed person. I pulled out another two kunai and while Ukon was still regaining his balance from no longer having the poison in his system I body flickered in front of him and enhanced my strength to cut deep into his chest, slashing through the 4 chambers of his heart.

I removed my hand from his chest cavity and it was drenched in blood that was slowly dripping down my hand and spotting the ground around me. He spluttered out a curse then collapsed to the ground as he bled out from his lack of blood being pumped to the rest of his body. I held in a smirk as I looked at my bloody hand, I totally felt like Damon Salvatore or Killua Zoldyck. Sakon was still kneeling on the ground as he clutched at his chest, feeling his cells deteriorate inside of him. I took the bloody kunai and stabbed the soft spot between the vertebra and skull at the base of his neck where his spine meets his skull. Severing his spinal chord his body slumped over in the instant death. Ukon's body will get me less because it is no longer intact but I will still receive pay for Sakon's so I bagged their bodies up and headed to the small town not even an hour away to take out Tayuya.

Besides Jirobo Tayuya is probably the weakest link of the sound 4, her long distance combat and genjutsu is formidable but if she is given no time to react she has no remarkable close combat abilities to fall back on. Like with Sakon and Ukon all I need is a surprise attack and she's done for. As long as she doesn't see me and play her flute she has nothing that can defend her from me. With everything packed up, I went on my way finding Tayuya. When reaching where Jirobo's journal said she'd be, I got an eerie feeling that someone was watching me. As much as I din't want to think about it, I had a feeling it might be Zetsu (aka the one member of the Akatsuki I really don't want to meet because I would struggle with not destroying him on the spot) because he is the top spy of basically anywhere and his ability to go into the ground and be unseen would make him the perfect person to spy on me.

I climbed to the top of a giant boulder mountain thingie and between the cracks of two jagged stones I stuffed my backpack into it so that as soon as I'm finished with Tayuya I can leave this rocky shit hole and go find somewhere more populated and woodsy to stay (maybe something with a festival so that I can at least have fun while I try to gather information on finding the Akatsuki which is way harder than Jiraiya makes it seem). Putting all of my focus on finding and taking out the Sound 4 has been a good distraction but sometimes I realize how alone I am and it plays on my biggest fear of being alone. I don't like it and so as soon as I'm done taking them out I need to find a way to get in contact with the Akatsuki, I'm mainly needing Itachi and Sasori but thats beside the point. I don't want to be alone anymore it's making controlling the darkness within that much harder.

Finding Tayuya was surprisingly easy, red hair (excluding the now borderline extinct Uzumaki clan) is pretty rare so asking around to find a woman with red hair and a shitty personality was pretty simple. She was looking for _Ulmus rubra, _a slowly dying plant that is supposed to help ease internal inflammation in a quick and efficient remedy. It only grown on rocky terrain and now is cultivated solely in this area. **(A/N the plant is real but the description of where it lives is totally fake.)** The woman who grows this medicinal plant is tucked away from the town and I'll wait for Tayuya to leave the woman's home and take her out then. My extensive training with Naruto, Sasuke, Shisui, and Kakashi to use ninja wires was going to come in handy. I cannot use them exceedingly well during a battle but to set up a trap is pretty simple. With each of the cracks in the secluded rocky terrain, I placed shuriken tied with ninja wire's around and had the trigger wires tied to my hand's and one wire held between my teeth. I weaved the wires into a star pattern and because I was right outside the Old Lady's home, Tayuya will have no time to see or avoid any of my traps.

The door opened and the red headed girl with her large purple rope around her waist stepped out. She was holding tightly to a bag and her flute in the other hand. As soon as the door shut and she took a step forward, I jumped back, the tension on the wire being strong enough to pull the shuriken out of their resting places and allowing the ninja wire to bind themselves around Tayuya. The shortest wire hd both ends wrapped around my wrists and before Tayuya had a chance to escape, I used the free wire and wrapped it around her neck. I stood behind her and placed my left foot on the small of her back while using strength in my upper body to pull towards me. The force of the pulling and thin, sharpness of the ninja wire became too much and with the sound of ripping flesh, I cut her head off of her body, blood spurted out covering my vision in read and her head rolled across the uneven terrain leaving a trail of blood in its wake. I brought the inside of Shisui's shirt to my face and wiped the blood away from my eyes. I bagged her body up in the same bag as Sakon and Ukon were in and dragged it to the base of the boulder where my things were.

I sat atop the rock and breathed out a heavy sigh. I took out the sound 4 but I'm still no closer to finding my dad. Was all of my ruthless killing for nothing, no I took down important members of Orochimaru's team but I still feel some semblance of guilt for being such a heartless killer. It's like no matter how hard I try to push that side of me down, it still creeps back up and overwhelms me. I watched as the rays of sun danced across the horizon in hues of pink and red. It was beautiful and mesmerizing but made me feel more lonely than I have in months. I was really truly alone right now and it was aching throughout my entire being. I can just imagine Team 7 sitting atop the Hokage monument and watching the sunset and Naruto and Sasuke sat on either side of me and Kakashi chatting with Zabuza or reading his book in a peaceful bliss behind us.

Or I could be with Shikamaru sitting in the Nara forest as we watch the sunset hide behind the trees as we play Shoji or discuss anything and everything while trying not to fall asleep. Late night walks with Akamaru and looking for bugs that only come out at sunset with Shino. Watching Hanabi make dinner and shyly tell me about Konohamaru or something new Lady Seiko taught her. Even training sessions with Tsunade and her saying when the sun starts to set she can drink even if she had been drinking way earlier. A stray tear fell from my eye and trailed down my face stopping at my chin and soon after an overflow of tears were falling. I know I'm doing what I need to do to save my father and help save the lives of the Akatsuki but I never expected how hard the loneliness and being away from the people I love would impact me.

When the sun had fully disappeared and the only source of light was the silver glow of the moon I got up from my spot and after checking a map, I started heading towards Yugakure. It is a good place for me to check out because it no longer has the standing of a hidden village and instead is a tourist village where I can gather information through people traveling through, find good food, and hopefully find out more about the Akatsuki and their whereabouts. It's also where Hidan grew up so that might possibly be a good place to go to find information on him since he is one of the ones that I am most excited to meet but also most worried because I don't know much about him or what Jashin really is.

—

_(3d Person) At one of the Akatsuki hideouts with Kakuzu, Hidan and hologram Pein and Konan._

After the Zombie combo witnessed Hinata's bloody slaughter of the sound 4, they went back to their nearest hideout and contacted Pein. They gave an analysis on the young Hyuga girl that Sasori had mentioned earlier, Kakuzu having to sew Hidan's mouth shut to explain everything without Hidan getting _excited. _Pein was more interested than ever in the development of the girl many of his underlings have been intrigued by. Not only that, she was no longer working within the parameters of her village so she was perfect to recruit now. Pain was going to have to recruit her at some point, by force if necessary, because the person in a higher standing than him wanted the girl to be recruited before he's resort to killing her. Something about the Hyuga heiress captivated many and her skills were exceptional, she was going to be a perfect addition to catching the Jinchuriki for project Tskuynomi. Pain ended the conversation telling the Zombie combo their next mission and Zetsu came up from the floor standing before Pain.

"_Hinata Hyuga is heading towards Yugakure and is still traveling _**_alone_**_ Her skills are that of what Kakuzu and Hidan described but from what Sasori gave us and my observations of her training,_ **_she is fucking wimp when she fights for real_**she was holding back against Orochimaru's sound 4. She started taking them out **_in a bloody mess that I wanted to eat _**_to find information on her father who was taken in by Orochimaru after the rescue operation to save Hinata from her months of endless torture. Her main goal seems to find Orochimaru and destroy him as well as saving her- possibly/_**_most definitely dead-_**_ father._" Pain took in all the information and nodded. His pierced face and Rinnegan eyes turned to Konan who was listening intently as well, hiding the frown on her face at the Idea f=of another person so young enduring so much pain in the world.

"Konan go and recruit Hinata Hyuga. Use the information about her as you wish but remember I do not tolerate failure. When you return she will join the rest of the Akatsuki and they will all meet in person." His baritone voice rang out.

"Yes Pain-sama." Her emotionless voice called quietly and obediently to her childhood friend before turning into paper and dispersing in the air.

"Zetsu go and bring Madara to me, he will officially become a member and team with Hinata as he has ordered." White Zetsu smiled and Black Zetsu scowled haughtily at being given orders but still cooperated and merged with the floor disappearing from sight on his quest to find 'Madara.'

—

_(Hinata POV)_

I was trudging through the forest reading a book as I was getting closer and closer to Yugakure. My nonstop travel for a few days was finally taking it's toll on me and I as starting to feel loopy. The wind around me blew harshly and there was a massive influx of chakra in front of me. I didn't change my pace or misstep in any way as I started quickly circulating my chakra through my body in preparation of a fight. I activated my Byakugan and snapped my book shut staring at the person hovering in front of me. My mouth gaped open at the angelic sight. Konan had wings made of paper on her back that was making her fly above me in such a graceful manner accentuated by her beautiful face and the pretty blue of her hair and the paper rose tucked into her bun. There was paper swirling around her all connected by threads of her chakra coming from her every pore. I was either going to fight to the death or join the Akatsuki if someone like her was showing up in my presence.

"So Konan, are you like here to recruit me or kill me because you are super calm but like your chakra is super hostile and ready for a fight right now. I'm really hoping for the first option because fighting you doesn't seem all that fun right now. I'd rather not kill you and have Pein come after me for vengeance because there's no way I can beat all 6 paths by myself." Konan's brows furrowed slightly and when I blinked she was in front of me, holding me by my neck with a bunch of paper shuriken aiming at me. I started readying myself for a water jutsu just in case.

"How do you know who Pain-sama is?" There was a dangerous glint in her eyes and like the idiot I am decided to respond in a way that was idiotic to say the least.

"I'm pretty sure you've talked to Sasori and whoever was trailing me already and they've told you that I know too damn much without any reasoning so you asking that question is pointless." I was really fishing to know if I was being followed for real or paranoid but by the lack of argument by Konan I was right on the money. I was expecting her to slash me for my shitty tone but instead she released me and I took in a deep breath of air from the slight suffocation.

"Hinata Hyuga you will join the Akatsuki, we will aid in your destruction of Orochimaru. Decline and I will kill you." I couldn't stop the smile from forming on my face. I finally had someone to talk to (who I wasn't trying to extract information from and kill) and was getting closer to accomplishing my goals. I guess if I want information from Hidan I'll have to ask him myself. Hopefully his desire to talk about his amazing Lord Jashin will overpower his desire to try and sacrifice me. Like he's a big dude and I don't wanna be in that fight.

"Ok, dope, lets go." Her blank orange eyes blinked at me slowly. I'm guessing getting people to join has never been this easy before. She started walking ahead of me and I trailed behind her asking questions to which I got little to no answer each time. Konan walks with the most poise of any woman I have ever seen, even Lady Seiko holds no candle to her elegant way of walking, no, gliding. I was getting more and more tired as we traveled and finally Konan noticed me falling behind. With a few hand seals, her body burst into paper and surrounded me in a swirling tornado. My body was lifted off the ground and I felt my insides moving in a way that was more disorienting than when Shisui body flickered me with him the first time. I felt my mind go fuzzy and I was so exhausted I finally allowed myself to succumb to sleep.

I came back to the land of the living to the sound of rain tapping the roof in a calming melody. I blinked a few times and sat up realizing I was on a bed mat in a place I sure as hell didn't fall asleep in. I took notice of the room, everything was metal and the ceiling was sloped as to allow the rain to fall off which meant that I was at the top floor of the place I was in. I shifted my eyes downward and sitting in a chair facing my bed was a man in an Akatsuki cloak. He had orange hair and thick metal rods pierced in more places than any person I've ever seen. His eyes were grey with a slight undertone of purples and had rings all the way through, no white to be seen. It took me a few seconds to realize who it was and when I did I shot up in my bed wide eyed. His eyes never left me and just continued to gauge my reactions to him as we sat in awkward silence. My saving grace came in the form of Konan as she opened the door with a tray in hand. She placed the tray beside me and I started eating the bread right away.

"Do you fully understand what joining the Akatsuki entails?" Pein's voice echoed throughout the room. It was kind of scary and his power just by his voice was evident.

"Yeah, you have a God complex so I'm to consider you my God or something so I'll call you Leader-sama and follow your orders and will probably be teamed up with someone else. I get a cloak and a ring and I'm probably not aloud to reveal any of your secrets to anyone else or you'll almighty push my ass into a grave." Konan glared at the indirect insult but I could see her lip twitch ever so slightly upward at my calm analysis of my death. Maybe Konan can be my Itachi, super cold but loving big sister. Probably not but that would be awesome. I spend enough time around boys already, having another girl besides Ino would be nice. Pain nodded in acceptance of my answers.

"Come in." He spoke to the door and it was flung open in the most dramatic fashion I've ever experienced. It gives me a run for my money on opening doors unnecessarily dramatic. I looked in anticipation on who was entering and my breath caught in my throat at the orange swirly mask the peaked it's head through the doorway. Memories of getting my ass kicked flashed and I was extremely confused on how everything is going to turn out now that I have THE freaking Obito Uchiha as my teammate. I just have to pretend not to know him, hopefully he still thinks my memories are altered by whatever the fuck Itachi genjutsu'd me with. Swinging his arms by his side, Obito skipped into the room off-key humming a song. He glomped Pein with a squeal and rubbed his mask against the pale cold skin of Pein.

"Oh Pain-sama thank you thank you thank you thank you for finally letting Tobi join the Akatsuki. Tobi is going to be a god boy." Pain didn't even move as Obito clung to him like a Koala, Konan just looked in exasperation. I was giggling into my hand, watching a grown ass man act like a child to Pein was more amusing that I thought it would be. **(A/N I'm gonna refer to him as each persona he is playing as kk just so you don't get confused. so Right now he's Tobi.) **Tobi heard my giggles and in a speed rivaling Shisui he was sitting on my lap pulling on my hair, his mask right in front of my face. "Ohhh is pretty Hinata-chan going to be Tobi's partner? Tobi likes Hinata-chan's laugh is Hinata-chan a good girl or is she a bad girl that Tobi has to punish." His voice was high and cheerful but I understood the meaning behind his words. He was testing to see if I recognised him ad was going to do something to make him take me out. I grinned at him and pet his hair, he leaned into it like a puppy.

"I hope I'm not a bad girl." I turned my big eyes to Pein and Konan, raising an eyebrow in 'disbelief'. "Is this man-child really my partner? Like he's so damn adorable and everything but am I going to die with an airhead like him?" It seemed to be believable enough a response to act like I don't know who the hell is acting like a child under the mask because Tobi did nothing to kill me even though his hands are still dangerously close to my neck.

"He is your partner and that is final. If you die it is your fault not your partners."

"Hai leader-sama." I replied as I continued petting Tobi's soft hair. My hands were clasped in Tobi's gloved ones and he went onto one knee.

"Tobi promises to be a good boy and not let Hinata-chan die. Hinata-chan is nice to Tobi like Deidara-sempai so Tobi promises to protect Hinata-chan especially from evil snake man." Damn, he has this act down I almost think it's real. I put on a soft smile aimed at Tobi.

"Thanks Tobi-kun, I'll try to protect you too." Konan cleared her throat and handed me a cloak and ring. The ring was large and silver with a blue stone in the middle with the lettering for lion, it was perfect. I slipped it on my middle finger and put the giant ass cloak on, leaving it unzipped.

"Tobi take her to the hideout to meet the rest of the members." Tobi shot up and with his Kamui warped us to the hideout. It felt like my body was flipped inside out than back again as we traveled but whatever. We were outside a rock and I emptied my stomach from the weird space-time travel thingie. When I was done I looked up at him with sparkling eyes.

"That was sooo fucking cool maybe one of the coolest things I've done! How'd you do that Tobi?" He just giggled and put his finger where his lips are to say it's a secret. I kinda wanted to see what excuse he was going to cum up with but was let down. Tobi made 4 hand seals and the chakra barrier around the rock dissipated and it rose off the ground enough for us to walk into the tunnel behind it. As soon as I was inside the winding tunnel that smelled and looked of wet rock, the boulder behind us sunk back into the ground. Apparently everyone was supposed to be sitting in the main room waiting to find out who I am and for most of them meet me for the first time (since apparently they have met Tobi on many occasions). Every step I took behind the dancing Tobi made my heart beat faster. Was I ready to see Itachi again? What was I going to do when I see him again? Was he going to be mad? Would he still be my 'Tachi? My mind was racing and I barely noticed the light starting to fill the tunnel. I only broke out of my stupor when we entered a basic looking living room (minus the rock as wall) and my eyes met the red Sharingan eyes that if I wasn't paying attention I would have missed the slight widening of them (and glare sent towards Tobi).

"Hinata?"


	17. Friend or foe

_Recap: I only broke out of my stupor when we entered a basic looking living room (minus the rock as wall) and my eyes met the red Sharingan eyes that if I wasn't paying attention I would have missed the slight widening of them (and glare sent towards Tobi). _

_"Hinata?"_

—

I didn't know what was happening until it was over. When Itachi said my name I felt this overwhelming anger at him flood through my body. It wasn't anger like I wanted to kill him, it was just pure anger for him leaving. For him thinking it was ok to fucking kiss me then manipulate my memories. For him to succumb to Danzo fucking Shimura. I yelled out a…

"Falcon…" and Itachi instantly set up his guard preparing to block the familiar attack. The problem was he wasn't used to my new speed, hell even I didn't know I could move as fast as I did. My fist was loaded with chakra and with a speed greater than I had ever moved I was in front of Itachi, using all the force I could without killing him, and connected my fist with his slightly more mature Uchiha face. "Punchhh!" Like it was second Nature I released the chakra right on impact and sent my almost-fiancé flying through the air and crashing into one of the rock walls behind him. As soon as he hit the wall and it started cracking, I realized what I had done and looked back to the stunned Itachi who was slowly pulling himself out of the wall while he snapped his jaw back in place, not even flinching from the pain. I brought my hand back down to my side and looked around finally acknowledging there were other people there. Everyone was staring at me in varying looks of shock until the silver haired(shirtless) Jashinist and a long haired blonde bomber started laughing obnoxiously loud, like Naruto level loud. Hidan pointed a finger at Itachi, who was now standing next to Kisame not looking like anything happened besides the bruise on his jaw and messiness of his hair, and wrapped his arm around me.

"Haha you fucking red eyed bastard. I never thought I'd see the day when someone finally knocked the lights outta your high-and-mighty ass." He then turned to Kakuzu and not losing any of his smugness, pointed his giant ass scythe at him. "See you old greedy fucker, following her around and telling leader was perfect. She's finally going to be mine. Lord Jashin would be so pleased to gain another instrument of Chaos." I looked up at Kakuzu wide eyed, they were the ones trailing me? And what in the hell is Hidan talking about! I was about to say something to him when Deidara pulled me out of the large mans grasp (Like damn Hidan is not that much older than me but he is so tall and has larger muscles then most men I've seen here while still looking toned). There was a loud "What the fuck tranny" from Hidan but Deidara ignored it as he started to talk.

"Long time no see, glad to know you don't like the damn Uchiha either, yeah. That was pretty awesome un. It was art, an explosion of force in a fleeting moment un. Man I wish I was the one who sucker punched that asshole Uchiha." His blue eye was shining brightly and he had a slightly sinister but somehow still goody smile on his face as he talked animatedly, using his hands for extra emphasis. I was going to respond, feeling super prideful that Deidara was willing to call my hit 'art' but before I could Tobi popped up between us.

"Wahh Deidara-sempai and Hinata-chan are getting along so well. Tobi is so happy!" He had sparkles and literally flowing out of him in some kind of genjutsu (probably the same one Gai uses for his sunsets). I let out a laugh of amusement at Tobi and Deidara's pissed off face.

"Get the fuck out of here Tobi or I'll turn you to my art un." Deidara stuck his hand in his pocket and when he pulled it out, the mouth on his hand was chewing and spitting up a small clay bird. Tobi booked it away screaming and Deidara let a small explosion go off right behind Tobi. I wasn't paying attention to that though. My eyes were locked on the hand mouth, without thinking I grabbed it and held it closer to my face and started tracing around the closed mouth with my fingers. The mouth must have liked the feeling because it opened and drool starting coming out a little bit. I was about to stick my finger in its mouth (Not realizing at the time how weird it is) when Deidara yanked his hand away and was staring at me quizzically. "What are you doing, yeah?" I scratched the back of my neck in slight embarrassment then shrugged my shoulders.

"Well I thought it was cool you had a mouth on your hand to make explosions so I wanted to touch it and then I did and it was behaving on its own and was so cute. Uh, yeah sorry, I guess its kind of creepy for me to do that."

"They are amazing, they make the truest form of art! Finally someone sees that un." I was going to say something else when I felt the intense stare of Itachi boring into me. I knew this stare, he was mad at me, pissed even and not because I sucker punched him. All the initial anger I felt towards him was gone and all I wanted to do was run and hug him tightly, feel the familiar embrace of one of the people who shaped the Kunoichi I've become. The pacifist who was willing to take the hate of everyone just to protect his brother and keep the peace in the Leaf. I put my hand up to Deidara, stopping his comical ranting to go talk to Itachi. I took one step when my body stopped moving, then started moving on it's own. I was turned around and forced to walk to a familiar and creepy Hiruko puppet.

"Brat stop wasting time and introduce yourself to everyone then you and I are going to have a chat, I'm don't like waiting." His tail was pointing at me threateningly and I took a step back. Tobi popped up again (seriously how the hell does he do that I feel like Obito is having so much fun trolling everyone) and jumped on my back waving his arms in the air as I caught his legs.

"Guys guys guys shhhh. Hinata-chan is going to talk!" Everyone looked towards us, Deidara and Hidan even stopping their bickering for the time being. I looked over everyone fully for the first time and felt intimidated by the amount of power radiating off of everyone. I felt small in comparison to the size of these guys.

"Yeah so uh I'm Hinata Hyuga ex nin of Konoha. I specialize in Taijutsu and elemental Ninjutsu."

"Don't forget you ripped those Sound Ninja fuckers a new one, spraying their blood in fucking sexy display of bloody chaos." Hidan piped in, this made Itachi's eyes widen once again and I knew our conversation was going to be an interesting one.

"Yeah sure that too."

"Tobi thinks everyone should introduce themselves to Hinata-chan." Tobi called out childishly from his place on my back, his abs pressing against me tightly.

"Eeh no need I know everyone probably better than you know each other." I got a few brow raises for this and Itachi slowly closed his eyes in annoyance with how stupid I was for revealing I knew more than I should. It would have come out by Sasori anyways, I don't see him as the type to keep a secret if it doesn't benefit him.

"Ohh ohh Tobi wants to play a game where Hinata-chan tells Tobi everything she knows and each right answer she gets a good girl point."

"Yeah sounds fucking fun!" Hidan called out, seeming excited to know I know who he is. His magenta eyes studying me like a predator.

"Itachi Uchiha" Our eyes locked and I smirked. "Killed his clan to _test his abilities. _I lived with him for a while." Kakuzu crossed his arms and scoffed at the basic information I provided. A few people looked between Itachi and I in interest, wanting to know more about us living together and what the stoic Uchiha was like. "Kisame Hoshigaki former member of the seven swordsman, uses Samehada a sword that eats the chakra of an opponent. Pretty awesome person who I've been waiting to meet from hearing about you from Zabuza-Sempai." Kisame looked shocked and let out a laugh at the information of Zabuza training me. "Kakuzu, old as fuck bounty hunter that has forbidden jutsu that gives him 5 hearts and supposedly fought the first Hokage." Kakuzu's red and green eyes stared more intensely at my figure, I gave information I shouldn't know at all and he wanted more information, fully understanding Sasori's plight. "Hidan, follower of the way of Jashin and an immortal as long as he has normal nutrients to survive. Loves blood and chaos and gets pleasure during his sacrifices." Hidan was sporting a smirk at my analysis of him and licked his lips in pleasure. By the way he talks about Jashin me knowing who that is made the religious man happy to talk with me more about converting. "Sasori Akasuna and you already know what I know puppet master." Hiruko's joints clacked as his eyes narrowed and his tail moved in aggravation of having something he doesn't know once again. "Deidara, self proclaimed artist Terrorist extraordinaire who uses clay pieces infused with chakra from his mouthes and using his explosion release makes them explode. Believes art is a fleeting moment, an explosion."

"Art is an explosion un." He turned his body around and held up his hands, tongues slicking out as his face formed a smug smirk towards his partner. "See Danna, I told you my view on art is the only true art. "

"Shut up you brat. Art is eternal…" They continued their ritualistic argument as I giggled knowing that when I told them my view, they'd probably team up against me.

—

_(3d POV)_

Itachi was had his unwavering stare piercing into the familiar blue haired girl. When she showed up as the new member, partner to Madara, his heart dropped in his chest. He was supposed to go rogue to protect his remaining loved ones from this life but somehow she's right in front of him. When she talked to him, her eyes still had that knowign look that he feared would be the death of her. Her smirk was as potent as ever and he knew she knew something she shouldn't. The long haired Uchiha needed to talk to her. She was still the same Hinata as he remembered: beautiful, loudmouthed, smart, hiding away her emotions, but this time something was different. There was a darkness to her that hadn't been there before and he needed to find out what happened and get her to leave before it was too late.

As soon as Hinata finished her analysis of the Akatsuki members, Sasori had added his chakra strings to her small body and began to pull her away. Before the puppet could bring the girl into his room of horrors, the elder Uchiha intervened and without saying a word picked up the Hyuga princess in his arms and flickered them into his room. He placed her on his bed before moving to stand against the wall in front of her. Her large lavender eyes blinked and took in his form before a smile blossomed on her lips. Itachi was confused at the reaction, where was the hate she should have for him. Her memories should be of him hurting her and defiling her but she looked at him with those same loving and admiring eyes she has always worn around him. Those eyes, they were like his little brothers and his chest filled with the pain of being away from the people he loved once more. Staring into her eyes, Itachi knew there was no threat so he shut off the chakra draining Sharingan and felt the pain of his blurry vision return, making the features of his childhood almost-fiancé become fuzzy.

"What are you doing here." His voice came out cold and calculating as always. An airy laugh left the lips of the girl he was trying to intimidate. Her face slowly broke out into a grin as she stood up and moved towards him, never breaking eye contact. She finally moved close enough he was able to see her parted lips and white teeth smiling that goofy grin that never failed to let whoever it was aimed at to feel as though she knew all of their secrets. Itachi swallowed thickly the closer she came to him, he was expecting another punch, he felt like he deserved one but instead her dainty hands wrapped themselves around his waist and her head buried into his chest.

"I know what really happened, we all do. I'm sorry." His tall body stiffened and he waited for her to say something else but was instead met with sounds of her gasping for breath through her sobbing. The cries wracked through her whole body and he could feel her trembling against his form. His resolve to make her hate him faded after each sob pushed its way out of her body. Itachi held in the cough threatening to burst from his body and to counter for it he slid his body down the wall keeping the girl securely in his arms. He had checked in on her every so often but has discovered nothing about her as of late so he was flipping through his brain trying to find out what would make the strong girl break down like this. Her cries finally died down and her breathing mellowed out substantially. Itachi finally looked down at the pretty Hyuga and carefully examined her face. Her hair was falling over her face, eyes were closed, her pale pink lips parted as small puffs of air were expelled from her sleeping form. He trailed a feather light touch across her eyelids and pressed his forehead against hers then picked her up and carefully set her in his bed. He remembered how hot she would get so he placed the thinnest of blankets up to her chin as she cuddled up tightly against his pillow, burying her face into the cloud. He decided to let her sleep and wake her up later to have the conversation that has been plaguing his mind since his defection.

The door of his room was knocked on so he activated his Sharingan, the familiar clear imaging of his surroundings came back. He opened the door and placed himself as to hide the girl sleeping in his bed, the nosy Akatsuki members needn't know this was happening. Out of his Hiruko puppet was the redheaded living weapon. His bored and lifeless chocolate eyes were boring into Itachi's, his annoyance at the interruption was obvious in the vicious glare that graced the beautiful man's features.

"Where is she." His voice was soft and contrasted with the harsh tone and words he spoke with. The handsome Uchiha narrowed his eyes at Sasori's questioning and stayed silent and unmoving against his deadly gaze. How could he miss that the leaf girl Sasori was so interested in was none other than Hinata, he should have realized this sooner and they wouldn't be in this situation right now. Sasori was one of the most intelligent members of the Akatsuki, he knew everything about everyone through his mass web of spies around the world. That alone made Itachi wary of the puppet master and now adding his obvious need to talk to Hinata, Itachi was ready to do whatever it takes to keep him away from her. "You arrogant brat, this has nothing to do with you. Give me the girl, I have something to settle with her before you go and kill her." His green nails were tapping against his wooden frame in agitation. Itachi's glare deepened and in an instant, he had pinned Sasori against the wall by his neck, squeezing tightly making the wood inside his body creak.

When the puppeteer saw the Sharingan user move, he ejected the blade hidden in his palm and held it against the pale skin of the Uchiha's throat. They stared unblinking at one another in a battle of who would out last the other, both fighting for the same girl bur for vastly different reasons. Itachi's black painted nails squeezed tighter around the human puppet and Sasori's poisoned blade pushed further against Itachi's neck. The sound of Itachi slamming Sasori against the wall alerted Kisame that something was up. Wanting to join in fighting alongside his trusted partner, the blue skinned man rounded the corner with Samehada poised ready to battle only to be slightly shocked at the scene of two of the least likely members to fight one another engaging in a heated grudge match. It barely took the large shark man 2 steps to be within a yard of the two, his small black eyes looking between the two trying to determine the cause of their squabble. One more step and Kisame would be able to see inside Itachi's room and the girl sleeping soundly in his bed. His back tensed and without breaking eye contact with the cold chocolate ones, he pointed his slender fingers to the exit of his hallway.

"Itachi?"

"Kisame, Leave." There was no room for argument and normally Kisame would let his partner be to himself, they were friends and Kisame knew Itachi liked his alone time but at this moment, he was too interested to leave. Itachi was becoming more mysterious by the minute today, he gets punched by a girl that barely reached Kisame's chest and then finds out they lived together and now the usually composed Itachi is wearing one of the most intense glares he's ever seen. Kisame took one more step forward, not really caring about the warning to stay back. His let his eyes wander around, gathering information about what the hell was going on with the most passive Uchiha was a must. The massive man's eyes stopped when they reached Itachi's room, then widening in a multitude of emotions.

"Itachi." Kisame's normally teasing voice was low and dangerous, his confusion was laced in his tone. He looked back at the Uchiha then back to the bed where the new recruit was knocked out, though what stood out was the red streaks down her face, an obvious sign of crying. Kisame put together all the information in the most logical sense. That quick blue haired punched Itachi as soon as she saw him, they both have been missing for a while, she was obviously crying and is now knocked out in Itachi's bed, and the Uchiha is acting more irrational and wild than Kisame thought possible. There was only one conclusion for him to come to. He knew the Uchiha was fucked in the head, they all were but Kisame had a limit of the evil deeds people could do. HE was here after all to make the world less fucked up later on so seeing his quiet partner do something so despicable pissed him off. Samehada's bandages were raised in the air and Kisame pointed his sword at Itachi, if the Uchiha made any movement or answered in a less than stellar way, Kisame was going to shred him. "I know you were pissed but this is beyond disgusting. Give me one good reason why Samehada and I shouldn't kill you right here."

Itachi's grip on Sasori faltered slightly as he understood what had just happened. Kisame wasn't here to fight with him, as soon as he got a look in Itachi's room, he put together the most logical answers from the little information given. He had to diffuse the situation because no matter what taking on both Kisame and Sasori while being physically and mentally exhausted was a recipe for disaster. Sasori was wondering what was going on to make them turn on one another, the most well-oiled team in the Akatsuki were turning on one another for a reason Sasori had yet to see. It was only when his neck was released and Kisame had backed Itachi into a wall that Sasori was able to view the slumbering girl in Itachi's bed. The puppet rarely felt anything but from his time as a human he knew what Kisame was insulting was one of the worst crimes a person could commit. He smirked, knowing he had won and why Itachi was pissed, he had tried to take his plaything.

Sasori's gears were turning, he knew that maybe if he got the trust of the girl she would tell him everything, then he'd know every dirty secret of his comrades as well as how to get infinite knowledge to go along with his eternal beauty. His legs carried him easily into the Uchiha's dark and barren room and with a swift pull, the girl was sent sprawling out of the bed and onto the floor. At least she was clothed, not like Sasori hadn't seen his fare share of naked people turning them into puppets or anything. If she woke up and watched as they killed or at least maimed the man who took advantage of her, she would trust him or at least repay him by giving the information he needed to have. It was foolproof, he'd watched her and knew she liked to repay people and was too noble a person to care if they were good or bad, as long as they had the right intentions and Sasori was going to use this to his advantage.

"A gah Duckbutt you jackass, cant you be nice like Naru and wake me up without trying to kill me." She grumbled out angrily as her eyes stayed shut not realizing where she was. There was no familiar sounds of Shisui laughing or Sasuke huffing and thats when she remembered where the hell she was. Her large eyes shot open in a panic, lavender eyes taking in the scene. First and foremost was that she was laying on the floor wrapped in bedsheets that smelled like Itachi. Second, there was an extremely beautiful red head standing in front of her looking at her with those bored and emotionless brown eyes. She thought that Sasori really was a beautiful human, too bad he hid that in the ugly ass puppet. The final thing her eyes looked to was Itachi against the wall with Samehada pointing at him, any moves and he would be drained of Chakra and shredded by the blue man's living sword. She was more confused than she ever had been, what happened when she fell asleep. "What the fuck is going on?" Her sweet sounding sleepy voice called out, the demure sound of her voice was ruined by her crass language and if Kisame wasn't cutthroat right now he would have laughed.

"We're solving your problem with the Uchiha so he can't force you anymore." Her brows scrunched in confusion and Sasori was confused, she may have been knowledgeable but she seemed to be a dumbass for not looking panicked or hurt in the slightest from what had occurred earlier between the two. Instead she was seemed confused on why they were helping her and why she should be mad at Itachi. Then her brain turned back on and she figured out what was going on. Her in his bed, punching him. Oh how bad everything must have looked for Itachi right now.

"Oh shit… oh shit. Hahah no …stop." Her voice got louder in understanding and she was laughing in a slight hysterical tone as she moved past the beautiful redhead to stand between Kisame and Itachi. Her eyes narrowed onto Kisame slightly, she had no problem with him but as of right now she needed to make sure he knew she was serious. "Itachi didn't do anything that you guys are thinking." He lowered his sword and strapped it to his back once more.

"So it was consensual?" Kisame breathed a sigh of relief knowing his teammate he actually liked and respected wasn't a total scum bag.

"Oh God. No, we didn't have sex. Gah! Itachi and I are friends and I fell asleep in his room because I don't know where mine is. I only punched him because I was mad he left and screwed me over in the process. Being stabbed as a last goodbye isn't that fun, kind of a dick move so I repaid the favor." She rambled on, trying to clarify everything without revealing any important secrets. Kisame finally understood everything and gave the girl a sharp toothed grin which she returned. "Also, thanks a lot for being willing to kill Itachi for possibly… you know. That's pretty cool of a big bad mist nin. You and Zabuza are both noble assholes it seems. Ironic coming from the bloody mist." He grinned at the girls assessment of him, nobody had ever called him anything less than scary and she didn't seem to care that he was blue or scary, she didn't care that Itachi was one of the strongest ninja he knew, she just did and said what she wamted and seemed to like people no matter who they were. For Itachi, his cold and mostly uncaring partner (although he's seen Itachi pretend not to care but really does) actually react to protect this girl and let her sleep in his bed, she must be someone he should get to know. His most pressing question now would be why would such a girl be a rogue in the Akatsuki.

"I heard about a little squirt that turned Zabuza into a leaf pansy, I never thought it would be a small fry like you. You got guts kid, I've never seen someone with the gall to punch Itachi like that and manage to so easily rile the Uchiha up with just their presence." Kisame's words made the Hyuga realize how close he and Itachi actually were and how opservant the swordsman really was. To most, telling the subtle shift in Itachi's behavior was an art form and Itachi a master craftsman at hiding everything he was feeling behind a wall of evil and coldness so for Kisame to be able to see those changes made the girl's heart swell that Itachi had found another best friend, one he was missing with her and Shisui gone. She liked Kisame, always has but now he made it to the top of her list of people to save. He wasn't conventionally a nice guy, none of them were but he had something inside of him that made him an outcast, a person just looking for friends to share his ideals and lives with minus all the judgement and Hinata wanted to be one of those people for him just like Itachi has been. "Also, what's a squirt like you doing in the Akatsuki." Kisame was expecting a reaction but not for her to giggle then start full blown laughing. Sasori and Itachi also pressed closer to hear her reasoning.

"Wouldn't you all like to know." She gave Kisame a cheeky grin, Itachi knew the glint in her eyes meant she was meddling in something big again, and Sasori was just annoyed at being denied an answer again. He was past the point of impatient. The pupped pushed the girl against the wall similar to how Itachi had held him earlier but unlike other victims there was not a lick of fear in her eyes. Itachi wanted to step in but seeing her grin turn into a smirk that she wore only when she was going to get something she wanted, he stayed back to watch. Kisame was watching in amusement at how one girl managed to shake up the entire Akatsuki and gain the most conversation from the puppet when he wasn't droning on about his art. This girl was amusing and made the Akatsuki more of a live able place already. In such a cute manner, Hinata tilted her head slightly to the side as she studied the man in front of her. She was testing her limits to see how far she could push the puppet until he'd be willing to give her whatever she needed in exchange for her information and she was going to pull out all the stops. "I was right the first time we met, you really are way hotter outside of that creepy ass puppet shell. I'd maybe be inclined to tell you more if you weren't so crabby and scary looking all the time."

"You are an infuriating girl and an idiot if you tell someone they are physically appealing when being held at knifepoint." He would have taken it as a compliment if she was calling him beautiful for being a puppet, not for having a nice face but she was grating his nerves more and more. He couldn't figure out anything she was going to say or do and he hated being ignorant almost as much as he hated waiting. Kisame was holding back his chuckles as he and his partner were having a one sided conversation about how serious this girl was in pissing off Sasori. Her smirk was as infuriating as ever and those knowing eyes were driving him insane, she was like a wild card, small blue version of his obnoxious partner combined with the loud mouthed Jashinist with the cunning mind of himself and he did not like the combination.

"Have you ever heard of the law of equivalent exchange?" **(Fullmetal anyone?) **"Basically the law states that if you want to obtain something, something of equal value must be given. So if you want information from me, you have to give me something equal to the information I'd give you." Kisame's jaws dropped yet again from the unexpected words. She was more than she let on and her words were incredibly smart and logical. She was playing a game and Kisame wanted to see how it would end, the dark edge she took only briefly was intriguing and he decided she'd be even harder than Itachi to decipher her words and emotions. Sasori was finally getting somewhere, he understood her words and her intelligence shown through once more. Was she just playing an idiot or was she actually a dumb genius. He released his hold on her small neck and she dropped quietly to her feet, rubbing the red marks slightly. "Ok so now while you figure out what I want I'm going to go have a talk with 'Tachi." She turned to the black haired boy and with a quick moment they were in his room with the door shut and locked.

His eyes locked with hers, a frown marring his inhumanely perfect features as his mind went over every possibility on how she knew so much about everything, about something that even Shisui shouldn't know all the information on. So why the hell was she standing here in front of him, he wanted to scare her last time but that failed epically so now he wants answers. Her eyes were looking into his, twinkling in happiness at fully seeing Itachi without that fake look of him wanting to scare her into thinking he was going to kill her. This was now her Itachi, the slightly quiet and awkward Uchiha with too much power and pressure on his shoulders to know how to deal with it. The Uchiha who loved her and everyone else so much he was sacrificing everything for them.

"How?" He took a deep breath and ran a hand slowly through his hair, pushing the bangs more out of his face. The hand still holding onto his moved down and laced their fingers together, pulling him down to sit in front of her. His hand was warm with hers, he couldn't remember the last time someone had held his hand like this, the last time someone had touched him in a non battle setting. He moved his hand out of her grip, feeling it tingle but he kept the frown, he didn't want affection he wanted answers. If she knew, did Danzo say something, is Sasuke in trouble? Hinata was breathing deeply, trying to come up with a perfect intricate lie, she couldn't tell anyone else what Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kakashi knew. So she'd been formulating this lie and was hoping it would be perfect, Shisui seemed to believe it so hopefully Itachi- the master liar- will believe it too.

"I know you Itachi, Shisui knows you, we know you better than anyone else so as soon as it was over, I knew something was off. You were said to have attempted to take out Shisui but I was there the whole time, I knew what happened so I knew there was something more. I'm not an idiot I knew the Uchiha had a deep rooted discourse with the village, not that all of it isn't wrong, but I know you and your pacifist ideals wouldn't let the coup happen. Shisui was the same and then he told me about how when he was close to putting everyone under the influence of his Kotoamatsukami but Danzo disagreed and wanted the clan dead for his own personal reasons. So he attacked Shisui to take his eyes and make it seem like your fault so the you would have to kill the Uchiha with no other option and you'd be the only one to take the fall. So I put that together and with some snooping for the knowledge that the eyes of every Uchiha with a Sharingan was somehow missing and Danzo getting a power surge, it all came together. There was also the thing of when I protected Shisui during the massacre all of your moves were different and when Sakura fucked with my mind it revealed that I didn't fight you, it was Madara who also happens to by my partner. Coincidence, I think not."

Itachi's perfect posture was gone, he was slumped over as he realized he had been played slightly. He knew there was something off but his desire to save Sasuke and the village over all others made him blind to the whole story. His fists clenched tightly and if he had long nails they would have punctured into his skin at the force he was squeezing. He killed his entire family, he pushed his brother to hate him so that he'd kill him one day in penance for his sins, he said goodbye to everything he loved and joined a terrorist group the acted against almost everything he believed in all for what, for the benefit of a psycho power hungry bastard with an inferiority complex bigger than a man who's ego led him to think he's a god. And now, now he can't do anything about it without getting screwed either by his village or Madara.

"Why are you here?" His voice kept it's composure, he was a master at never letting anything seep through but unlucky for him he had to be with one of the most observant of his friends. She was right, her and Shisui would know what he was feeling at a glance, Kisame was growing into one of those people and it stressed him out. He always felt like he was arms length from people, he was better than them or different or whatever but those three never made him feel like that, they saw him as a friend over anything else and thus could look past his exterior and read him like an open book, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry because of it, because of the overwhelming feelings swirling inside him like a raging storm.

"Well, I have 3 reasons to be here but before I explain any of them you need to read these." She pulled out two scrolls from the bag in the corner of his room, his eyesight was less blurry right now, good enough to make out the large Kanji on the front from Shisui and his brother.

"Sasuke knows?" She pushed the scrolls into his hands.

"Read those first, we can lay 20 questions later." He unrolled the first scroll but was struggling to make out any words from the blurriness of his eyes and chicken scratch Shisui called writing. He should be blind and yet his writing was no different then when they were kids. Hinata noticed him struggling so she moved to be sitting above him instead of leaning her back against the bed next to him. He hated feeling weak, his eyes were loosing their vision faster with his diseased body and the one time he wanted them to work they weren't. Her delicate pointer and middle fingers riddled with scars were placed on either side of his head against his temple. She applied light pressure and the green glow of chakra flickered to life and began to enter his body gently mixing with his chakra and making its way to his eyes. He didn't fight it at all, her chakra was soothing as it mingled with his, it was steady like the flow of water but swirling and exciting like lightning, a perfect balance of her wild personality. He was shocked that Hinata, the battle loving Hyuga had learned medical ninjutsu but was thankful. After 20 long minutes, his body was relaxed and the blurriness and pain of his vision faded slightly, he could feel the pressure behind his eyes, begging to be traded for another pari, but the pressure no longer caused him extreme pain. She removed her hands from his eyes slightly sweating from the long term healing and laid back against his bed to let him read the letters.

_Dear 'Tachi-chan,_

_I'm keeping this letter short, you know I don't like writing and it wont matter when I see you again. I'll talk to you for hours about all the stories I've been saving to share with you. I want to say I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I was weak and a bad best friend to let you be the one to take the fall for our clan's mistakes, my mistakes, and Danzo's mistakes. I will set it right with the help of your little brother and the person who gave you the letter. Before you know anything else I want to say that this is all her idea so please don't come kill me, Hinata just restored my sight and I want to enjoy it a bit more before I die. Since i know you want to know, Sasuke is still the same little Sasu-chan he's always been if you give him an emo complex bigger than yours. He's found good friends in his teammates, even a best friend in Naruto and together they have become the strongest team to possibly ever come from Konoha. He really is a prodigy much like you and his heart is still noble and loving towards his Aniki and Hinata, he tolerates me. Hinata is also amazing if you cant tell but don't let her fool you, she's lonely more so than ever and has lots of nightmares so make sure you take care of my Imouto. Thats about it, I'm going to save the rest for when I get to see your pretty face._

_Love you,_

_The person who is faster than you even blind ;)_

Itachi could visualize every cheeky grin Shisui would put on and the hair tugs that would have followed after each word. He couldn't help but smile slightly at the writing of his best friend and was glad to know his brother was ok. But after the letter, he has even more questions for the girl once again in his bed. He carefully rolled the letter from Shisui back up and slid it under his bed knowing he would want to read it again. With nimble fingers, he undid the seal on the second scroll and let his eyes trail over the graceful writing of his precious younger brother.

_Itachi,_

_Why, why did you do this to me, to everyone? I hated you. I hated you so much all I wanted was to kill you and Avenge my clan but then Shisui had to tell me what happened so I want to know why. How could you have been so dumb, why did you love me so much that you were willing to give everything up for me? Why Aniki why? I'm going to take down Danzo, I'm going to ruin him and expose him to everyone so that you can come home. Hinata, Shisui, and I have a plan and when you come home I need you to tell me everything and then I can forgive you because no matter how much I love you, I can't forgive you yet. I'm leaving the freak in your care, I can't be the one to protect her so you have to. I've failed her once and won't let that happen again so you better not let her get hurt, make sure she doesn't make any more stupid decisions until she is home safe. When she goes after Orochimaru go with her, I don't think she'll be able to see him alone without losing it. She can't sleep alone without nightmares so make sure she isn't no matter how much she says she's fine. _

_Sasuke_

Itachi's eyes watered slightly and he chuckled as he re-read the words of his brother. He was still Sasuke, they told him the truth and Sasuke doesn't hate him. Nothing Itachi does or says at this point will get his brother to hate him anymore so he resolved to have a new goal. He would do everything in his power to earn his brother's forgiveness and make it back home even if it is just once so that he can tell him everything. He looked closely at the girl meditating on his bed, he would start by protecting her. He promised his brother that he would protect her and bring the Hyuga back home with him. She opened her lavender eyes and he was entranced like when he was younger. Without a second thought, he pulled her into his arms, mumbling a "Thank You" into her silky navy hair. A thank you for giving him light back in his life, for showing him the truth and giving him a chance to earn his brothers forgiveness and love again.

Itachi wrapped his arms around me, I could feel the wetness from his eyes dripping onto my hair as he muttered a "Thank You." He let me cry on him and it's my turn to repay the favor. We stayed like that for who knows how long until finally he released me. There was no hint that he had cried or anything at all and I don't know how he does it, stupid perfect Uchiha genes. I was nervous and hot, ready to finally have the conversation I had been planning for months, I undid my cloak and slid it off my body. Itachi took a look at my clothing and his lips quirked up into a small smile. His long fingers grabbed the collar of the shirt and rubbed it between them.

"Shisui wore this outfit when I graduated the Academy, it's been a long time since I've seen anyone wearing Uchiha clothing."

"Yeah well until I can buy new clothes I'm stuck in baby Shisui clothing. He'd be having a field day if he could see me, I think my cheeks would be bruised at how much he would pinch them at this point." I couldn't stop thinking about the bright teasing grin shisui would be wearing as he cooed at me and paraded me off to everyone as his 'finally going to become and Uchiha Imouto.' Itachi's smile faded and he looked deadly serious.

"We can catch up later, why are you here?" He was staring at me, but his eyes were still hazy, there was only so much healing I could do for his eyes. The Sharingan is above any healing, I can take away the pain momentarily but I cannot stop him from going blind while keeping a Sharingan and I haven't yet found a way to let him and Sasuke both live and get the EMS. I took in a deep breath, running through each lie I have weaved to make sure my story works, I have been creating the perfect mix of truth and lies to make an unbreakable lie. Kakashi is not-surprisingly a great manipulator and liar and had been a big help, all I have to do is not fuck up executing everything perfectly.

"My first reason is I came to get you. I couldn't live with myself knowing you sacrificed everything for the sake of Sasuke and the village. You were being used and it's not fair. You are one of the kindest people ever and don't deserve anything Danzo and the Uchiha put you through, Shisui and Sasuke agree so they sent me to bring you the letters while they take care of that fuckstick Danzo back in the leaf." Itachi's fists clenched together tightly, the muscles in his jaw contracted as he grit his teeth, and his eyes were narrowed onto me, not in anger at me but at Danzo. He finally knows he was manipulated and everything he had to do and give up because of it, Danzo is good as dead. Itachi really is too noble for his own good, his curse of the Uchiha is he loves too hard and that is what makes him easy to manipulate for someone who is a master like Danzo or Madara. "My second reason is I am going to stop the Akatsuki from reviving the 10-tailed demon. Nothing good will come of it and will most likely result in every members death as well as the destruction of most of the world. I want to save the people in the Akatsuki, give everyone a chance at redemption and a way to have love and happiness." Itachi stopped me from talking, his hands were on my shoulders and his Sharingan was activated as he intensely made me stare at him.

"No, I'm not letting you do that. I promised Sasuke to keep you safe and you'll put yourself into danger trying anything with most of the other members. You are strong Hinata but you don't have the drive or the heart to lill like they do. They are killers, if you get in their way they will not hesitate to kill you."

"You don't know what you're talking about. I'm not the little girl you left behind. I'm a killer just like everyone here, just like you. I'm not afraid of them for that, as strong as everyone here is, I am just as strong. Either way, Someone being a killer doesn't define who they are. Saying other wise is bullshit to me, one of my closest friends, one of the people targeted by the Akatsuki is the one tails. He killed people for sport, to feel alive but now he's Kazekage. I gave him a second chance at life, at love and I want to do it for others too. I know a few of the members just got dealt shitty cards in life and that made them the way they are, so if I can do my best to change their fates and show them happiness they are missing, I will do my dammed best. You should understand this better than anyone else, you are one of those people Itachi!" My calm disposition faded throughout talking, by the end I was yelling at him full of a determined ferocity. He deactivated his Sharingan but never removed his hands from my shoulders. The pads of his fingers were squeezing harshly into my shoulder and was probably going to leave bruises. He closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath, the warmth of his sweet breath fanned my face. Whenever I got this passionate about something, he knew there was no changing my mind.

"Foolish little hime." He poked the center of my forehead with his pointer and index finger. "As soon as I think you are in danger, I'm getting you out." My face was warm with the action, he hadn't done it in so long and the last time someone had poked me like that was after Sasuke and I…

"Deal!" My fist punched into the air in excitement. Itachi smiled softly, the tenseness in his body was lacking, he looked more relieved then he had since before the massacre. He looked slightly sad and pensive, but he didn't have that harsh look about him right now, he was just 'Tachi. "Ok just in case you don't know, here's the preface to the final reason I'm here." My voice came out colder than I wanted, it was quivering and I had to bite my lip to continue talking. I was angry but talking about it made me feel that horrifying overwhelming fear I tried so hard to rid myself of. My chest was tightly constricting and my mouth filled with the taste of iron as I bit through the skin in my lip. The warm liquid coated my tongue and dripped down my chin and onto my shaking hands. The influx of pain made my mind clear up slightly and Itachi's cool fingers found their way to my mouth, pulling my lip free. He wiped the blood from my face and cleaned his hands off on his cloak. He was silently observing me, letting me gather my bearings without forcing anything though I knew he had a million questions.

"It's about Orochimaru right?" His low voice rang out in a familiarity of kindness, the same that helped me through my mother's death. It's been so long and we both changed so much but everything stood still for a moment and I felt safe, that comforting feeling of home I'd been missing for the few months I have been gone.I flashed Itachi a thankful smile and finally, for the second time in my life , fully explained everything that happened when I was kidnapped by Orochimaru and what ensued after. I didn't cry, not even once but the tremors that had finally ceased at the thought of Kabuto ran through my body while I remembered every gruesome detail and the moment when I was at my breaking point. The black haired man in front of me said nothing, his face was void of emotion the entire time I talked, the only assurance I had that he was listening was his hands squeezing mine whenever I would tremble too much. We were sitting in front of one another, so close his knees were touching mine as we sat on the hard floor. I bit my lip once more, welcoming the pain. My eyes stared into his and he could have sworn they flashed red with hate.

"He took my dad, they all took so much time to come and save me and Orochimaru took my dad after everything else he put me through. I was so weak, so useless and he took him! I'm going to find my dad and kill that fucking snake asshole for all the shit he has put me and everyone else through. No matter how hard I've tried, I can't find him anywhere. The only person I know who would know where he is, is Sasori so I'm going to do whatever Sasori wants to get to Orochimaru." The pad of Itachi's thumb brushed across my wrist, feeling the jagged scarring from one of the few spots where Kabuto's knife stabbed through and he didn't bother to heal it. The few scars he decided to leave on my body were put there to remind me of weakness, at first they made me cringe but now they are a reminder of what I'm fighting for. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against mine, I could see every crevice in his face, every line on parted his lips, the endless inky black hues of his dark eyes.

"Itachiiii-kunn have you seen… oh there you are Hinata-chan." A childish male voice sang out to us. Itachi stood up and moved in front of me, glaring down Tobi. "Ohh, Itachi-kun is making his scary face at Tobi. Hinata-chan Tobi has been looking for you, he thought Itachi-kun was going to be mad at you for hitting him but Tobi was wrong. Itachi-kun looks like he loooovves Hinata-chan." Itachi growled and I know for sure now that Obito playing as Tobi has the most fun trolling people, he can do and say whatever he wants like a child just to piss people off and they just let him. Even if Itachi knows who he is, he can't do anything and that gives Tobi so much power to do whatever he pleases. I hate to admit it but it's kind of hilarious and I hope that if I can save him, he'll keep a bit of this childlike happiness in his heart forever. He danced around Itachi, his entire body wiggling and thrashing in the most unnatural ways. Even with his wild flailing, each muscle movement he did still was unable to fully hide the deadly shinobi behind it, and that scared me. He is one of the people I'm positive I would not be able to defeat if it really came down to fighting.

"I'm ok Tobi, thank's for making sure. You really are a good boy!" I smiled softly at him, glad for the break of the seriousness of the moment Itachi and I had shared. He clapped his hands together then put them on his cheeks, wiggling his hips and having flowers form behind him. I was entranced at the sight.

"Hinata-chan thinks Tobi is a good boy, Tobi is so happy! Tobi is going to steal Hinata-chan from Itachi-kun because Tobi is a good boy!" He raised his pointer finger in the air like he discovered the cure to cancer. "Oh Tobi can't forget, Hinata-chan it's dinner time and then you have to spar with someone to see how strong you are." Tobi scooped me up in his arms and started running down the winding hallways made of rock. I tried to memorize the path but failed, hopefully someone can help me later so I can grab my stuff from Itachi's room. "Tobi thinks Hinata-chan should spar with Hidan because Hidan can't get killed no matter how much you hit him. Hidan is kind of scary and he talks like a bad boy so maybe Hinata-chan should fight somebody nicer." We went past the living room where I first entered the hideout and moved through one more hallway before we were in a kitchen with a dining table. I'm surprised they all eat together, but I'm guessing its few and far between when everyone is in the same hideout. As an even bigger shock Deidara was wearing a deep orange apron and Hidan was wearing a blood red apron against his shirtless self while they were surrounded by various pots and pans having a screaming match.

"Shut your goddamned hole you atheistic bastard, we're not eating any of that fucking nasty ass vegetable shit. They will ruin the spare rib!" Hidan's loud voice rang out, echoing against the rock as he swing his tongs around like it was his scythe. Deidara turned from his pot of what looked to be Kinpira Gobo and got closer to Hidan, his hands stuffing themselves into his clay pouches.

"Nobody but you is dumb enough to just eat spare rib, yeah. My food is art, an explosion of flavors. You're lucky I'm even letting you in the kitchen to cook when I could have just made Bakudan un. Now shut the hell up or I'll turn you into a masterpiece, I have no more patience for you!" Deidara's voice was deep but it boomed **(A/n pun only slightly intended) **as he yelled and looked ready to blow Hidan to kingdom come.

"Not everything is about your fucking shitty art you damn tranny!" I looked up at Tobi with one of my eyebrows raised in questioning. He looked away from his perfect sempai and back down to me, letting out an adorable giggle.

"Deidara-sempai and Hidan fight a lot but they cook Tobi good food so Tobi let's them be bad boys." I placed my head back against his beating heart (I'm totally not enjoying the feeling of being carried like a damn royal) and patted his chest. My eyes were opened fully and I looked up at his swirly mask through my lashes, man he likes food too and I have hot boys to cook it for me. This might not be so terrible after all.

"Words after my won heart Tobi, I gotta love a fellow food lover."

"Yay Hinata-chan likes Tobi!" Tobi's loud, excited screeching being higher pitched than both of the fighting chefs made it stand out enough to grab both of their attention, them finding a common enemy worse than each other to yell at.

"**SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH TOBI!" **They yelled in perfect unison, snapping their heads over to where we were standing. "What the fuck are you doing to the hot bitch Tobi, why the fuck is she with you?"

"Tobi was looking for Hinata-chan to eat dinner with Tobi and friends since she is Tobi's partner. Tobi found Hinata-chan in Itachi-kun's room being hugged by Itachi-kun like Tobi hugs Deidara-sempai to show Tobi loves Deidara-sempai and when Itachi-kun saw Tobi he got super scary so Tobi saved Hinata-chan from scary Itachi-kun to come get the yummy food that Deidara-sempai makes." All of the attention was put on me at the news. Man, these two are the ones I didn't need finding out about that yet. Kisame was cool about it and Sasori is well Sasori, but Deidara hates all Uchiha with a passion and Hidan has an issue with most non-Jashinists, Itachi and his 'too cool for school' attitude high on that list. Getting them to join my side per-say is most likely going to be harder now if Tobi never keeps his mouth shut. He was really funny until it fucks with my plans. Deidara's face turned into a dirty scowl full of hate at the mention of Itachi, his blue eye was staring right into me. Hidan on the other hand kept his (super sexy) arrogant smile on his face like nothing fazed him.

"That Uchiha fucker has nothing on me, I'll kill him if I need to. I'm not worried about that dick stealing you away, you're going to be my hot bitch. I saw you fucking murder those pussies in that sexy display of blood and gore, we're cut from the same damn cloth of bloody chaos and lord-Jashin has accepted my sacrifices in prayer to make you my fucking bitch who'll become another vessel of destruction for Lord-Jashin." My jaw practically dropped to the floor at Hidan's statement. I honestly didn't know what to expect from him and I thought his comments earlier were just to get a reaction or whatever but him praying to Jashin for my to be his…what. the. fucking hell. Did him watching my brutal battle between Kidomaru really enthrall him that much that he's convinced I'm the one for him and a perfect candidate to serve Jashin. That scares me more than it should, I don't know how to handle a situation like this, this might complicate everything more than it needs to. I was thinking Hidan might be the one whose hardest to convince, him only wanting to kill and sacrifice but this is definitely nothing close to anything I was expecting. What the hell did I get myself into with Hidan?!

"Yeah I have literally no words for that, a newfound experience for me but uhh yeah…" I turned away from Hidan and looked towards Deidara. "So Deidara, its pretty cool you can cook and all, I bet it will be flavorful cuz you like explosions of everything and the flavor will be exploding and like I'd love to chat with you about art and eat but I really need to talk to Sasori, can you help me with that?" I finally was able to get out of Tobi's baby hold and he ran over to Deidara, attempting to latch onto his sempai's side.

"Damn right my cooking is art, and Art is an Explosion! Why should I help someone who is with an Uchiha and their cursed eyes un?" He spat out at me after his wild grin about his art, he really is a fanatic. It's kind of adorable, he's like Naruto with Hokage but like more sinister and a mr-artsy-splode-boy instead. My lips twisted into a mischievous grin and I clasped my hands together and winked. Deidara's sharp crystalline blue eye narrowed in anticipation, his lips were pressed in a firm line and his slightly softer jawline was tense, and his hands were on his hips as he waited for what I was going to say.

"How about I tell Sasori your art is better than his? I'd love to get him to flip out and siding with you for the moment is perfect. Plus as cool and useful as his puppets are, they are super fucking creepy and I'd rather watch them blow up than stare down any more horrifying puppets." The blonde bomber's lips went from a boyish mischievous smirk to a full blown prideful grin, his visible eye crinkling in glee as I finished my proposition. His tongue ran over his lips, his grin widening even more.

"Hinata hmm, you really are something else; I'll help you. When Sasori Danna decides to kill you, I'll make sure you die as a beautiful piece of fine art, a fleeting moment, an explosion un!" He was glowing with an odd sense of sincerity, I guess I should be thankful that even if he knows I'm friends with Itachi he's willing to make my death 'beautiful,' maybe we can actually get along, he seems like the type of person I'd have a blast doing crazy shit with. I don't have Kiba right now for anything reckless so hopefully I can fulfill my desires with Deidara. The grin dropped and his brows furrowed into a scowl, which really looked more like a pout but thats besides the point. "Tobi un, go be useful for once and get everyone for dinner, make sure Danna actually comes so he can talk to the suicidal girl, yeah." Tobi jumped up from his spot sitting on the counter, swinging his legs and humming, and gave a large thumbs up to the pissy blonde.

"Of course Deidara-Sempai, Tobi will do anything Deidara-Sempai asks of Tobi because Tobi is a good boy and loves his Sempai!" Tobi's body melted into a swirl (his Kamui was efficient and absolutely something I would give an arm and a leg for) and he went to go fetch everyone for the food that smelled mouthwateringly amazing, man Hidan was the last person I thought could cook but by the smell and look of his short ribs, he is amazing. I put my elbows on the counter and rested my chin in my hands as I watched them mesmerizingly move around the kitchen cooking and plating the food. Hidan was yelling something, getting annoyed responses form Deidara but I was too focused on a question that had been plaguing my mind, Deidara is so hot but his sexuality is always questioned and I needed to know the answer to whether not he and Sasori were together so I posed it in the only way I knew how.

"So Deidara, when did you Sasori and Tobi start having threesomes?" Deidara turned to look at me as he dropped his spatula, my eyes were half lidded and I was wearing a shit-eating grin but there was no hint of teasing, I was honest in my question and he knew it, pissing him off. Hidan was bellowing out a laugh, hunched over as he held at his stomach from the force of his laughing.

"You hear that tranny boy, I told you, you all were fucking gay." Hidan's striking fuchsia eyes locked onto mine and he gave me a salacious smirk as he purposefully flexed his muscles when grabbing his Jashin necklace. "Damn hot bitch I didn't know I could love you anymore but I do, Lord-Jashin brought me a damn good mate." He stalked over to me, his tall ass body shadowing mine as he towered over my hunched form. I stood up to my full height and tried to get away from the grey haired man but he caged me in with his large arms, pressing me up against the counter.

"Well damn, I was expecting you to be all Jack the Ripper not Dick Grayson."

"Who fuck are those assholes with stupid names?" He looked thoroughly confused at my statement of people that don't exist. It was that same dumbfounded look that everyone wore when I mentioned people and it never ceased to amuse me.

"Wouldn't you like to know." I stuck my tongue out and shrugged, pushing him off from caging me in. Itachi walked into the room looking stoic as ever as he took in his surroundings. Deidara tensed up instantly and shot him a glare, Hidan didn't pay him any attention as he was still looking at me in confusion.

"No shit, that's why I fucking asked." He rolled his eyes.

"Its a rhetorical question. Anyways ask him" I pointed my finger at Itachi.

"Uchiha, who the fuck is Dick Grayson?" Itachi's red eyes met mine and his lips did their best not to smirk, he knew what I was talking about after my endless ranting about the robins and their stories. Itachi thought they were made up, but he at least knew what I was referencing, this was one of our things, Itachi listened to every hero I told stories about and we could use them as a secret language that never seemed to not confuse other people. We had fun talking in our code sometimes, only a few people even knew the gist of it.

"Robin or Nightwing?" My eyes twinkled in happiness that he remembered, and the new people in the room were looking between us in confusion trying to decipher the code of what we were saying.

"Nightwing." Itachi scowled at Hidan, his red eyes shining brightly. Itachi knew how often I said Nightwing was amazing but a sexy ass man whore at times when he moved on from his persona as Robin so me calling Hidan that, he instantly knew why I was calling him that and I knew he was just as confused at the development as I was. From the information I had gathered, the way of Jashin made people celibate with non-jashinsits making them spend no time on relationships so I was confused on why Hidan seemed so intent on flirting, or whatever he was doing, with me. Hidan opened his mouth to say something as he and Deidara put the food out for people to eat but was interrupted by a flailing orange masked man child who was being followed by an annoyed looking Sasori.

"Look Deidara-sempai, Tobi brought Sasori-kun like a good boy…. Ohh the food is ready, Tobi is hungry!" Tobi grabbed a plate and stacked it high with every possible food and jumping into a seat at the farthest end of the table. Everyone followed his lead, putting food on their plates and sitting down none of them looking too thrilled to be eating with one another. As soon as food was on my plate, I was pulled to sit next to Sasori, Hidan quickly taking my other side before Itachi could. I propped up one of my knees and rested my arm on it, turning to Sasori as I chewed the tender short rib. He was staring at me with the same glassy eyes, his thoughts running rampant on what I was going to tell him. He was impatient and sick of waiting for answers, ready to beat them out of me if necessary.

"So have you figured out what I want yet?"

"It has something to do with my old partner yes?" His boyish features stayed lifeless as he spoke, the only change was the cock of his brow.

"Ding ding ding we have a winner. I'll tell you what. You tell me where that snake fucker Orochimaru's lairs are since I know you know, and I'll let you in on why I know everything about you when you know so little about me." Our conversation got everyones attention and they were all listening, it seemed nobody here liked Orochimaru either, perfect. Sasori had accepted my proposal before I even gave it but he wanted more information anyways. The surface information he had on the two leaf members in the Akatsuki was unsatisfactory at best and he needed to know more about us, me especially. He wanted to know how my mind worked, he needed that fro everyone as a contingency if he wanted to kill us all and make puppets, or at least to just not be in the dark. He was a man that never wanted to be in the dark about anything, he always had to be in the know.

"And what's a brat like you going to do with the information I give you?" His head cocked slightly to the side, it fit too perfect with his doll-like features.

"What else, I'm going to rip his head off." Sasori smirked, his lidded eyes coming to life in pure amusement. Everyone was staring at me in levels of amusement and shock, interested that the 'little girl' is so confident about killing a serpent like Orochimaru.

"A shitty brat like you isn't going to gain his attention in the slightest. Killing his underlings is one thing but getting to Orochimaru himself is a different game, how are you going to get to him?" Kakuzu was the one to speak this time, his voice was low and extremely condescending, his red and green eyes were staring at me like I was an idiot.

"Oh how wrong you are, I've had Orochimaru's interest since we first met. He's kidnapped me before and won't hesitate to take me in again. I know that my killing his dogs let him know what I want, he'll be waiting for me. My plan is simple really, I'm going to waltz into each and every hideout he has until I find him and then I'll kill him." My smile was slightly blood thirsty and the people who had met me before were all taken aback at the dark edge to it. It seemed out of place on my princess-like features.

"I like the way you think babe, I'll back you up and sacrifice all the fuckers that show up. Lord-Jashin will be more than pleased at the bloodshed." His arm was strung across my lithe shoulders carelessly but I ignored him as I never broke eye contact with the ancient man whose (kind of super fucking dope) mouth stitches were on full display as he ate.

"You are one arrogant brat." Kakuzu still spoke condescending, but there was a lilt of respect in his voice, he thought I was an idiot who is going to get myself killed but respected me for my ballsiness.

"It's one of my greatest qualities." Or one of my worst, I'm still deciding on which one it is, it has saved my ass a few times but has also gotten me in loads of trouble in others. My arrogance is usually accompanied by my fear and that ends up in me saying stupid things that either benefit me the way I'm hoping or make everything worse for myself. I took a large bite of my food and Kakuzu and I ended out stare down. Sasori looked agitated and as soon as I finish eating I'm going to be dragged to his room and we're going to have a chat. I need his information and whatever it takes to get it, I will. Another question I had been waiting to ask for ages rushed to the foreground of my mind. "Hey Kakuzu, Hidan is immortal and can't die from any bodily harm and you steal the hearts of people and use their abilities as well as gaining extra lives so what if you took Hidan's heart as one of your own. Wouldn't that make you both immortal then? I mean theoretically at least. The most you would probably have to do to make it work is give Hidan a heart transplant if he has to have blood pumping, but its possible that all you would need to do is stitch up the cavity in his chest and boom, instant immortality." **(A/N I've been wondering this forever and this would be so fucking cool if it would work. I'm pretty sure it would and that would be sick.) **All eyes were on me once again and Kakuzu's odd colored eyes widened when I finished talking. His stitched lips stretched into a smirk and his shoulders started shaking, which turned into full blown chuckling. The vibrations from his deep laugh shook through the dining area and I'm pretty sure I just made a new best friend with someone almost 80 years my senior.

"I like you shitty brat, you're intelligent beyond your years. When we met I thought you were another idiot like my blockheaded partner."

"And I thought your blockheaded partner was a male prostitute but appearances can be deceiving." He smirked once more and went back to his eating, I'm pretty sure Hidan's going to be pissed when he finally understands what is going on, and there is a high possibility Kakuzu is going to become a true immortal soon. That might be a really bad thing, but right now it seems to be a good thing, Kakuzu is probably going to be the easiest to save although he is low priority. Money and his like of intelligent people are what I can hopefully provide and with that after some time hopefully he'll want to be saved and stop trying to destroy the world while in the illusion of saving it. Plus if I can, if HIdan joins me in killing Orochimaru chances are Kakuzu will too and having a powerhouse like him on my side is a win for whatever the happens.

"Hey what the fuck! I'm not putting my heart in that greedy old bastard's chest! And who the fuck are you calling a blockhead you assholes."

After dinner Sasori wasted no time in rushing me off to his room to chat. That put us here, awkwardly staring at one another as he waited, rather agitated I might add, for me to spill my secrets or whatever. His room was more or less exactly what I expected, instead of a bed there was a metal table thing and a bunch of tools next to it which was probably for creating his human puppets or something. In the corner of his room there was a table with a neat stack of books and covered beakers all lined up by the color of the liquid sitting in them. There were also a few poisonous plants that lived in the darkness sitting on the desk and on some of the other surfaces in the room. In a lone corner, there was the Hiruko puppet in all its creepy ass glory. When I finally decided to look back at the redhead, he was tapping his fingers impatiently and his lidded chocolate-y eyes were glaring at me. He looked ready to stab me and if I didn't start talking soon he probably would.

"So um…" I chuckled awkwardly not really knowing where to start with the conversation. "What do you want to know exactly?" He leaned back in his chair, keeping his unblinking eyes trained on me.

"How do you know so much about me and the rest of the Akatsuki?"

"Oh thats easy, I saw it." I internally cackled like a madman at how real my statement really is, man if only he knew. Sasori was dissatisfied with my answer if the huff and kind of scary glare he sent me meant anything.

"Elaborate, I won't give you what you want until you explain." I laid on my stomach on the floor, propping my elbows up and laying my hands in my palms so I could look Sasori in the eye as I talked.

"Well its pretty simple. Since I was a kid, I've seen these flashes of memories that played out kind of like a movie. At first I was confused because they came at random but when I was around 8 and the Uchiha massacre over, I was finally able to piece everything together. I was seeing bits of the past and future of the world and the people who I saw or at least lived through their memories or whatever all had important parts to play in the shaping of the future. Distinguishing past versus present was difficult so I never truly knew what was going to happen and when, it was more like I got to see information on people that influenced the world so I decided I needed to meet them all. The problem with my dreams or visions or whatever the fuck they are is that there is one set timeline and the things that I've changed purposely or not has made the timeline I saw different so now, other than knowing about people's lives I know nothing else." Sasori's expression stayed unchanging throughout my explanation (which props to me because it was so honest while still being a lie) and he was impossible to read. It was slightly unnerving at how blank he was, there was nothing and it was my first time experiencing someone that I couldn't figure out ANYTHING from. I don't even know if he believes me or not and honestly I don't now if I can take on Sasori without help. Finally his lips parted and his eyes widened, drilling a hole into my skull.

"That is the most unbelievable thing I've ever heard. It is so inconceivable that I think it can't be anything but true. There is no explanation for why you know so much, yo haven't left your village enough and nobody has escaped from me in order to spill any of the information you have on me or any other Akatsuki." His fingers pinched the bridge of his nose as he contemplated deeply. He had many answers swirling in his head before I started talking and my answer was not even close to any theories he had come up with, but with all the investigating he had put in, the answer fit in an imperfect, perfect way. He felt as though his jump to eternal knowledge slipped through his fingers, the so called 'visions' I was having were impossible to give to anyone else and Sasori's above average brain was able to figure that out instantly, if it was possible and others had that information they would use it differently than I have, there would be no war only one supreme power but that hasn't happened.

"You just get more and more aggravating little girl." His cold eyes stared at me with some kind of desire and not the good kind. "What have you seen about me?"

"Your parents were killed by the White Fang and that forced you into living with your Grandmother Chiyo but you just wanted the love of your parents so you made puppets of them. Some other non important things. Oh, and I saw how you died." The last statement made Sasori freeze, he died? After working so hard on making the perfect un-killable body it seemed unfathomable.

"Die?"

"Yeah you finished killing one of my best friends and the people who came to get him back ended up fighting you and Deidara. You fought against a girl named Sakura and your grandmother and could have won but you decided to let them kill you in the end and boom, you were dead but that's not going to happen anymore so I guess its fine." Sasori's brows scrunched together and he looked perplexed either at the idea of him essentially killing himself or fighting his grandmother. It was the most expression I've seen on him (other than annoyance because he always seems to be annoyed).

"What did you change?" Sasori was more and more interested in the conversation, everything I was saying helped him understand things but it also confused him more because he was trying to figure out my thought process with everything, jokes on him. I don't even know why I do things sometimes.

"Well Sakura is dead for starters after she joined Orochimaru, I'm on the team that was the one who killed you this time, and because I'm apart of the Akatsuki now I refuse to let you die. I want to give you and everyone else a second chance before they meet the same fate as what I've seen." Sasori leaned forward to study me, his fingers traced around my brow, softly moving over my cheeks and lips then down to my jawline. He was so concentrated I just let him be.

"You, you are a brat,"

"Well fuck you too puppet man." He ignored me to finish speaking.

"You are an aggravating little shit that I can't figure out but one day I will figure out how you work and then I will turn you into my puppet." I smiled cheekily and he removed his hands from my face.

"Good luck with that, I can't even figure myself out so you're going to have a hell of a time trying to do it." Sasori got up and walked over to his desk, pilling out a scroll that was sitting with his books, he tossed it to me and it fit snugly in my grip. I cocked my head to the side slightly. "What's this?"

"Are you that much of an idiot?"

"Maybe?…" It came out as a question and I could tell he was getting annoyed with me.

"It's a map of where all of Orochimaru's known hideouts are. Now get out of my room, you've tested my patience enough for now." I hopped up onto my feet, clenching the scroll in my hands like it was a lifeline. This is it, exactly what I needed to get my father back.

"Thanks, oh and by the way. Deidara is right, his form of art is better than yours." Before he had a chance to react, I hightailed it out of his room to look for someone who could show me where the fuck I'm supposed to sleep so I can put my stuff away and get ready for my spar. I turned the corner quickly and crashed into a large and sturdy frame. I stumbled back a few steps and looked up into the blue face of a smirking shark boy. "Hey Kisame, perfect I was looking for someone to help me. I need to get my stuff from Itachi's room and I need to find my room. Oh yeah Tobi also said I'm supposed to spar with somebody so I need Hidan or something." Kisame chuckled, his sharp teeth on full bad ass display with his grin.

"Sure kid, lets go. I'm pretty excited to see you fight, you don't look like much so lets see what you got." My lips spread into a shit eating grin as I walked besides the giant man.

"You're going to be so amazed you'll bow down and admit I'm a better water user than you." His grin turned slightly sadistic in an I'm going to fight you and kick your ass for talking smack kind of way.

"You got a big mouth kid, you better back it up or I'll shred you to ribbons for talking like that."

"Oh I will, you may be a chakra monster but my control and technique is top notch, even Zabuza-sempai said I'm better than him."

"If that little demon punk was willing to put aside his ego for that then you must have some skill." Kisame helped me get my stuff and showed me my room as well as a tour of the main hideout. During the tour we talked about Zabuza and I explained how I got him to join Konoha and all of our adventures. The giant shark man was thoroughly amused at Zabuza's shitty job (in his opinion) at being my protector. Kisame told me about what Zabuza was like as a kid and he was such a little angsty shit who liked blood and stabbing people. When we finished putting all of my stuff away, Kisame helped me find Hidan's room while he went to get everyone else to watch the spar.

I raised my hand and knocked on the door.

"Who the fuck is there?" A voice yelled out from inside.

"Hinata, open up you and I are gonna spar!" There was loud and wild cackling and the door to his room was flung open revealing Hidan with no shirt, his Jashin pendant was on full view, and his hair was not slicked back. The gray locks draped around his face and there was a slight sheen of sweat glistening on his rock hard abs.

"Oi hot bitch you came at the perfect time. I just finished my prayers to Lord Jashin." He leaned against the doorway and ran his hands through his hair, licking his lips and flashing me a smirk. "You want to spar me instead of those other bastards because I'm the damn greatest. Your ass really does know the way to my fucking heart."

"Uh no actually I want to spar you because you're the one whose immortal." He pushed himself off the wall and took a large step towards me.

"Din't fucking lie, I know you damn well you want me." He threw his arm over my shoulder, his magenta eyes never leaving mine. "Lets fucking go to the arena and unleash your chaos. Those goddamned idiots won't know what hit 'em." Hidan kind of scares me in a way I didn't know possible, nobody has ever openly flirted with me in such a serious manner and it's more stressful than I thought. Even with that, he is kind of hilarious and his random yelling, ranting, and foul mouth amuses me to none other. My heart was beating quickly and my whole body was humming in excitement for a high-caliber spar. No worrying about killing or being filled with anger or having to protect anyone, I can just let loose and feel the momentum and exhilaration of a fight. I think Hidan is feeling just as pumped as I am for a spar, just from our few hours together, his incessant talking shows that other than Jashin, he likes to spar too, he finds the thrill in an exciting fight. "I can taste your blood on my lips already. You may not be getting divine punishment but when we're done, you're going to look as fucking hot as you did when I first saw you. Lord Jashin will be pleased." He laughed loudly and tightened his grip on me. Thats so many levels of creepy and I hate that it doesn't even phase me at this point. What the fuck kind of world do I live in where someone wanting to fight me taste my blood in a creepily romantic way isn't even in the top 10 weirdest things I've experienced anymore.

"Coming from you that's endearing in a creepy psycho vampire kinda way, so uh thanks?" I nudged him slightly (totally not leaving a bruise or anything) and he shoved me back, running ahead with me trailing behind as we laughed on the way to the training room. "DON'T LET THAT TAKE AWAY FROM THE FACK THAT I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!"

"YOU FUCKING WISH HOT BITCH!" We finally made it to an exit of the hideout and when I went outside I was amazed at the training grounds. It was a wide space surrounded by trees and a lake in the most picturesque scenery but that wasn't what was amazing. There was a wall of different weapons and seal tags with tons of targets and dummies around the training area. It was a perfect mix of Shinobi and peace, it was beautiful and when there is a full moon reflecting off the lake it is going to be one of the most peaceful places to sit and relax. My eyes were glowing with excitement at the area, this is going to be where I spend a lot of time when not on missions. "Sup fuckers." Hidan's greeting brought me away from the scene and I noticed there were other people around me. Kakuzu, Kisame, Itachi, Deidara, Tobi, and Zetsu were all sitting on rocks, in tree branches, or on a flying bird (Deidara) waiting for us to spar. No surprise Sasori isn't here, he's probably still annoyed with me. I'm guessing this is how I prove myself to be worthy as a member which means I need to assert my strength, most of them recognize you by your strength and because of that I need to prove myself strong if I want anyone to listen to anything I have to say. Itachi walked up to Hidan snd they had a small stare down the Uchiha glowering while Hidan smirked smugly.

"You try to sacrifice her and I promise to make you wish you could die."

"If I'm going to sacrifice anyone it's going to be a damned to hell prick like you first." I walked past the testosterone fest, smiling that Itachi is still protective even when he wants to say he's not and headed to the member I have yet to meet. The person I am most wary about in the Akatsuki, even more than Tobi. I mean, he fucked the whole world since the times before Hidden Villages and basically manipulated every big 'villian' until the end of Kaguya, someone with brains like that is definitely smarter than me and will probably hinder my plans of saving everyone. I stood in front of the black and white venus flytrap dude who was sticking half of his body out of a tree, his yellow eye watching me carefully.

"_Hi/_** What do you want?**" Black and white Zetsu's voices rang out at the same time. White Zetsu sounds like a boy who hasn't hit puberty yet and Black Zetsu has a deep and gruff, hostile voice that sounds annoyed at everyone.

"I wanted to see the person who had been following me for weeks in person." His visible yellow eye narrowed at me and I turned around before I ended up saying anything stupid. I grinned dangerously at Hidan, cracking my knuckled and then sliding on my gloves. "I'm fired up." Hidan removed his 3 bladed scythe off his back and swung it around effortlessly.

"Lets go bitch, show Lord Jashin what ya got." Hidan started sprinting towards me and when he was close enough, he swung and threw his scythe speeding in my direction. I did a back handspring out of the distance of the scythe and with a yank of the chain, it was back in the Jashinists firm grim. "Well shit, that was fast, this is gonna be so fucking fun!" Getting cut by his scythe is a no-no but I wan't to have some fun close combat before I might have to resort to any ninjutsu. I activated my Byakugan and moved my body into my Olympic style stance, bringing my feet and body into a dance-like position in a perfect spot for any directional movement.

"I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass… and I'm all out of bubble gum." I ran up to Hidan and began to throw various basic combo attacks to see how his body moved. He was quick and blocked well, but his inability to die made his defense somewhat lazy and he left his right side and left leg open for attacks. I feinted left and when he brought his arm up to block, I shifted my weight and aimed a blow to his right side. He barely moved in time to block with the end of his scythe and wrapped the chain around my hand, yanking and sending me flying with pure brute strength.

"That was a fucking close one!" I pushed myself off the ground and Hidan continued his forward assault. He wielded his Scythe with his right hand and I need to take that out. He attacks with no rhyme or reason, withy my olympic style I move so that it seems random but Hidan actually just fights however he wants and that alone makes him extremely dangerous.

Dodging the relentless strikes and follow-up's with his chain, he scratched under my eye and a few on my arms but I managed to get close to Hidan before he could lick it and with a forceful strike, I mixed my enhanced strength with the gentle fist and released my chakra as it made contact with his upper arm. The release of my gentle fist chakra was a large enough wave to stop the flow of chakra into that arm completely and releasing it like enhanced strength managed to not only cut the flow of chakra, there was a loud crack and Hidan's humerus was sticking out of his skin, leaving his arm dangling at an odd angle. I didn't mean to break his arm like that, trying to mix the two attacks is something I'm still working on and didn't know I added too much chakra into the hit. "Dammit fucking asshole, that hurts like a bitch." He attempted to move his arm and grab his scythe, not caring that his bone was just sticking out like that but was incapable of getting his hand to react at all. "Why the fuck can't I feel my arm!"

"I'm a Hyuga dipshit, disrupting your chakra is a specialty." Hidan picked up his scythe with his left hand, blood pouring down his right. His eyes were wide and crazed, a sinister grin on his lips. He brought his scythe to his lips and licked the blood off. The blood dripping from his arm he looked ready to make the Jashin symbol.

"FEEL THE FUCKING PAIN OF LORD JASHIN!"  
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." My hands quickly made the hand signs for my water serpent. The snake head rose out of the lake and came rushing towards us, I carefully expelled chakra out of every point in my hand and electrified it, sticking it into the serpent. The whole thing lit up as it started conducting the blue lightning. Hidan finished his circle and looked ready to stab himself in the shoulder.

"You ready hot bitch?" Before the spear could fully puncture his skin, the water serpent surrounded him and I infused more of my chakra into it to keep the water together. I could feel the shock of lightning striking him go to me but I wasn't done. The electric snake lifted him off the ground and out of the circle, the pain ceased instantly but I still felt dizzy. I held him in the air for a few seconds before I could see his wild rushing Chakra mellow out to that of being knocked out. I released the jutsu and a soaking wet Hidan tumbled ungracefully to the ground.

I was panting hard and sat down, putting my hands over my face and chest to begin healing myself. The familiar light green came to my finger tips and a cooling sensation flooded my body as I sealed up the cuts and bruises, as well as the damage done from my lightning. Tobi was at my side as soon as I started healing.

"Wow Hinata-chan, you _are_ really strong. And you can do medic stuff, thats AWESOME!" I shot him a grateful smile. Kakuzu walked up to the knocked out Hidan and kicked him a few times until he woke up. Something Kakuzu said pissed Hidan off and he started yelling, the sight of his hair all wet and fuzzy with his yelling and shitty arm was pretty funny and I couldn't stop the giggles that erupted from my chest. My laughing sent Tobi into a frenzy as well. When my body was healed, I got up on slightly shaky legs and sat besides Hidan.

"What the fuck do you want?" He was pouting, actually pouting because he lost! It was adorable and with his wet hair it looked like a little kid pouting from having to take a bath or something.

"I'm going to heal you." I took his broken arm and without giving him any time to fuss, I pushed down and snapped the bone back into place. My hands glowed green and I focused on mending the bone back together, the feeling of my chakra draining more fixing something that takes a lot of chakra output was beginning to settle and a light sweat was glistening on my brow. My tongue was sticking out of my mouth as I concentrated piecing the fragments and marrow back together and after a little while I had his arm fixed enough to just need a wrap for the next few days. "You're welcome! Sorry about breaking your arm like that!" I shouted to Hidan as I got up and quickly stumbled over to Kisame. "So Shark Boy did I impress you enough to want to fight or train me or both? It wasn't the best show of everything but like a magician never shows his tricks." I asked him, excitedly bouncing on my heels.

"Yeah Kid, you were impressive. When Itachi and I get back from our mission I'll see what you got in the water ninjutsu department." I threw my fist in the air before falling into the grass.

"Ah fuck I'm tired, mystic palm takes so much chakra." Kisame's laugh was teasing and his large hand came and ruffled my sweaty hair. Arms found their way around my body and I was lifted into the air, my lavender eyes met with the red Sharingan of Itachi's. "You know I can walk right."

"Yes…" His eyes softened slightly and my heart thumped in my chest as he moved me into one arm, using his fingers to poke my forehead before shifting back to holding me normally. "You've gotten stronger."

"I better fucking have or all that stupid training was a bust." I smiled goofily at him, sticking my tongue out. His long legs began striding back into the base and to the kitchen. He sat me on a chair and opened the fridge pulling out a box of Tri-colored Dango. He handed me one and took a bite of the one in his hand the happy childish look overtaking his features at his favorite food. "Man you're still a slut for dango." Itachi choked on his food slightly and gave me a glare, it had no weight because there was a faint red hue forming on his cheeks.

"And you still have no filter." I shrugged and took another bite of the sweet dumpling.

"So 'Tachi what's your mission you and Kisame are going on?"

"Iwa hired us to take out some missing nin that have been causing them problems. Leader-sama wants us to leave in an hour." A heavy weight latched onto my side and right before I hit the ground, I was being cradled much like a baby.

"Ahh Hinata-chan Tobi thinks you are so clumsy sometimes. OHHH is that Dango?" Tobi set me down and shoved the last bite of Dango through the bottom of his mask, swaying happily as he ate it. "Ohh Tobi almost forgot again! Hinata-chan and Tobi and Deidara-sempai have a super cool mission to go on together while Sasori-san is busy." I perked up at the team up, this is going to be an interesting mission. I missed Itachi's knuckles turning white as he gripped his fists together, he didn't like the Idea of leaving me alone with Madara after what happened the first time we met.

"Sounds like a blast. What's are we doing?" Tobi grabbed me in his arms and began to run once again, probably to find Deidara and inform us of what we are doing. We stopped outside Deidara's room and I thought Tobi was going to knock but instead we juts waltzed straight in the bomber's room. He was sitting at his desk kneading a large pile of white clay. His hair was all tied back and his cloak was gone, exposing the extremely toned form that his tight clothing showed.

"Deidara-Sempai Tobi is a good boy and brought Hinata-chan."

"Sasori-Danna took the most inopportune time to go out alone at least I can respect his views on Art but you Tobi, you are a nuisance un." He spoke mildly annoyed and didn't bother to look at either of us.

"Yeah nice to see you too Deidara." I scoffed and went to his side to watch his hands work their magic in making things out of clay. "Is this explosive too?" He took his eyes off the clay for a second, looking to meet mine then rolling his blue eyes.

"Of course un. What else would I do with clay, yeah."

"Oh I don't know, not blow it up." I leaned down to look closer at what he was building, it was a bird I couldn't name if my life depended on it. Up close it was extremely detailed down to the looks of feathers. It was beautiful. "Thats amazing, man thats so fucking cool can you teach me to mold clay even if I can't make it explode?"

"I guess since you're begging me to learn what true art is I can't turn you down un." Deidara slid over on the bench he was sitting on and I took a seat next to him ready to start.

"Wait Deidara-Sempai Hinata-Chan Tobi wants to learn art too but Leader-Sama gave us a super special mission so Deidara-Sempai can't teach art now."

"Fine Hinata-chan if you actually succeed in this mission I'll teach you the wonders of my art when we return. Tobi, give us the details then we'll leave, yeah." He sounded positively annoyed and ready to just kick Tobi out of his room. Man, I wonder what happened in their first meeting that made Deidara dislike Tobi so much, it's not like he knows Tobi has the Sharingan either, that would just set him off more.

"Tobi thinks Deidara-sempai should let Tobi help make a plan." Tobi spoke hastily and excitedly like he just couldn't wait to plan things with his precious bomber boy.

"No, I don't plan for things. As a great artist, I stay _flexible _to be ready for anything un. A plan takes away all the spontaneity, yeah." I rolled my eyes, the notion of not planning is slightly dumb. I get the whole expect the unexpected thing but at least having some idea of what you want the outcome to be is the best course of action for the most part. I guess that things change so often maybe trying it out this way with people like Deidara and Tobi might actually work out in my favor, they are pretty unpredictable. For the next few minutes Tobi informed us of the mission and I was purely dumbfounded at what we were hired to do.

"What the hell, can't Konan go on this mission, she's an actual woman!" I sighed and ran my hands through my hair at the thought of pretending to be some sleazy woman, it was hard enough doing it to get Jirobo but now I'm doing it again and am not even the one to complete the mission. I'm the distraction. I guess it is just to see how well I'll follow orders as my first shitty mission, a hazing or something. "Fine whatever but if anything goes wrong, I'm going to have both of your heads on a platter."

"Don't worry Hinata-chan Tobi will be a good boy and nothing bad will happen to Hinata-chan!" His promise felt sincere enough and I smiled. I'm putting my trust into the biggest liar and a suicidal bomber, how bad can this go.


	18. Life: enjoy it before you die

"WOW Hinata-chan Tobi thinks you look like you should be in a brothel in that skimpy outfit!" Tobi clapped his hands as he circled me wearing my outfit (if it can even be considered that) for the mission.

"Fuck off, I already know I look like a cheap whore." I pouted as I crossed my arms together in slight embarrassment. I was wearing a skimpy, slinky black kimono that was open enough to show off a good portion of my (annoyingly larger than normal) chest and had slits up to almost my hips on each side. The only upside was how soft it is. My hair is down and slightly curled and I have on a bit darker makeup than normal but luckily I don't have to keep up with the constant strain of a transformation and can focus on my role for the mission. Deidara swooped down from the sky and hopped off his bird. When he looked at me a smug smirk overtook his features.

"I've seen naked women who look more clothed than you do un." His hair was flowing longly behind him and the wind blew his bangs so I could get a good look at the high-tech scope covering the right side of his face.

"Yeah yeah fucking hilarious. Did you find the target?"

"Of course I did, he's having the auditions as of now, yeah. Put your Kunoichi training to use and make him pick you then Tobi and will do out parts and I'll show them all something beautiful." His blue eye was burning with such passion and I bet he was thinking solely about the colors as his explosions paint the sky.

"Bye Hinata-chan,Tobi will be a good boy and save you soon!_" _I began my walk towards the building. For my first Akatsuki mission I was expecting something interesting and I guess I got that but I wasn't expecting for the mission I was hired to do would make me some rich Mobster dude's arm candy. Apparently a smaller village has been having problems with a man named Gyangu who leads a massive underground system of crime, stealing and attacking civilian and low-tier hidden villages to make his kingdom and so they hired the Akatsuki to take care of the problem. Lucky for me, Gyangu is having 'auditions' to find a new girl to take up his role as his arm candy since all gang lords need a hot chick to be at their side and fuel their ego, and Tobi or Pein thought it was a good idea that I have to take up that role providing a long enough distraction for Tobi to get all the money and Deidara to blow everyone and everything up.

The building I entered was a surprisingly nice one story but when I was escorted into the back room, the smell of booze and cigars hit me like a truck. There were a ton of women in the room, all dressed in lower quality hoe clothing and caked on makeup even the girls who were extremely beautiful. They were probably here to get better lives or were pimped out but I have to get this job, none of them will and by the looks I got when I walked in, I might be able to pull this off, I just need to see what kind of girl Gyangu wants. Smack dab in the back center of the room was a spotlight and elevated platform shining on a tall (and kind of hot) early 30's man with navy hair and deep red eyes. HE had some muscle on him and by the chakra emanating from him, he was probably a Jonin at some point or another.

I was given the number 103 and escorted to the back of the line. My eyes never left Gyangu. I watched his every action, the way his face scrunched when he saw a girl he didn't like immediately or when he seemed intrigued by were 4 girls ahead of me until my turn and I know what he's into. He turned all of the heavily made up girls instantly, any girls who jabbered to much were also gone pretty fast. The women who carried themselves too sexily were also passed aside and those who were quivering in total terror were kicked to the curb. He seemed to go for the pretty and timid ones who were shy but not afraid, now I just need to get him to like me over all the others and step one is done.

"103" A voice boomed and I was pushed towards a massive man. He took my number card and led me towards the stairs to meet Gyangu. I walked up the stairs making sure to sway my hips ever so slightly and I clasped my hands in front of me. Gyangu's red eyes looked me up and down slowly, his lips slightly lifted and I was accepted through the first part.

"Ah 103," He purred. "Please come take a seat." He patted gestured to the seat in front and beside him. I bowed then I took the one facing him and slid into it, keeping my eyes flickering from him to the floor. "So 103, what's your name?"

"K-Kurai Hyuga Master Gyangu." My voice sounded so much like Canon Hinata I shuddered. He chuckled and rested his elbows on the table, looking into my eyes.

"Ahh, I knew I recognized those eyes. What's a pretty little Hyuga from the leaf like you doing with someone like me." I poked my fingers together and looked down.

"W-well I l-left because I don't-t wan't to fight. I l-like to watch others fight and my c-clan did not approve." His smirk grew a bit and turned into a sultry smile. He unclasped his locked fingers and put a hand under my chin, raising my head to meet his. I let out a squeak and forced myself to blush (totally not thinking about embarrassing moments in my life). I have this in the bag, I was worried being a Hyuga might deter him but my explanation of my 'abandonment' did the trick and he's putty in my hands.

"A pretty little shy thing like you has dark desires and is not just looking for money, you're almost too perfect. Young, beautiful, quiet, obeying but with a dark side I think I'm going to love you miss Kurai. You being by my side, I'll give you all the violence you can watch and a sexy little one like you'll make me look even better as I build my kingdom." I let myself smile a little bit, pushing down the grin of success. "Now that's such a pretty smile, it shines like a full moon in the dead of night, you are truly as beautiful as a goddess. I wan't to see how it looks when you're underneath me." My face flushed slightly and I fidgeted awkwardly at the smooth stood up from the table and held his hand out to me, the skull ring on full display. "Kurai my darling as I become King to this world will you become my Goddess?" I placed my hand in his and let him lift me to my feet.

"I'd l-love to Master Gyangu." He pulled me into his side and wrapped an arm lowly around my waist. He turned to the guards and hoards of women.

"Escort these worthless women out of my sight, I have found the one. You will address her as Lady Kurai." They all bowed towards us then forced all the crying girls out. I wrapped my hands lightly around his arm, holding onto him and tucking my face in his arm when the guards turned to look at me once more. He let out a chuckle I could feel through his body and rubbed a circle on the bone of my hip. "Would you like to go somewhere more…" He leaned down and I could feel his warm breath on my skin. "_Private?" _I nodded and he scooped me into his arms and headed down the stairs. After walking me down them, we turned and entered a room that was basically a suite covered in pink and red rose petals and had all types of alcohol (a lot I've never even seen before) sitting on ice.

"T-This is t-too beautiful for someone l-like me!" I stuttered out, looking at him wide eyed with a sweet smile. His red eyes met mine and with a sultry smile he spoke.

"At first I thought this room was beautiful but looking at you now, it pales in comparison." I do have to admit, this guy is smooth as fuck but there is something so dark and sinister in his red eyes. If any of the rumors circulating around him and what he's done are true then he deserves the death that is coming. I just need to hold out for a little over a day before the plan is (hopefully) carried out. He walked over to one of the drinks and poured a glass filled with a light pink translucent liquid. It smelled strongly of strawberries and sake. He poured one more glass and sat on the bed, crossing one leg over the other. "Drink with me beautiful." I slid into the space besides him and grabbed the glass, tasting the sweet but strong drink and downing it in one gulp.

"Thank you Master Gyangu." He took a sip of his then proceeded to let out another laugh.

"You just keep surprising me." He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Save the Master for when I have you calling out my name." I turned my head away embarrassed at the insinuation but gave him a small nod.

"W-What are we g-going to do tonight?" I asked looking up at him shyly, praying to god I wouldn't have to do something to not let him try anything. His hands wrapped around my legs and pulled them into his lap, rubbing them softly.

"I want us to get to know each other." For the next few hours we talked, he told me all about his plans and previous conquered villages. All of the prisoners he took captive were used to either become his expendable soldiers or he used them as entertainment and had them fight to the death in a type of colosseum type thing for all his underlings to watch. It kept everyone in line and I was disgusted at how much joy he got from ruining other peoples innocent lives just to build his 'kingdom.' His ways of command were cruel and unusual and everything he stood for was demented. He wasn't looking for power in strength, he already had that, it wasn't even as a shinobi he was doing all of this on the economic and drug side of the world. He ruined families, killed for fun, got children addicted to drugs, and enjoyed every bit of it. When it was late and I was slightly intoxicated I began to feel drowsy.

Gyangu gave me a set of extremely extravagant, skimpy silk pajamas that were black with red lace cut outs and watercolored flowers etched into the fabric. I washed my face and made sure I was clean, my cheeks were still pink with intoxication but it just helped with my shy look. I walked out of the bathroom and fiddled with the hem of my shirt looking at Gyangu who had the plum sheets draped over his lower half, his naked chest exposed for the world to see. His ruby eyes looked me up and down, glowing with happiness.

"You truly are the loveliest of girls, now come, let me see you up close. Let me feel every curve of your exquisite body against mine as we sleep." I slid myself under the covers and he pressed my chest against his and rolled so I was laying slightly on top of him. His large hands wrapped loosely around my waist and he rubbed the small of my back. His body was hot and uncomfortable. The safe feeling I had when laying next to any of my friends or family was gone when laying with him, it felt wrong and made my spine tingle in displeasure and if I wasn't still intoxicated this would be a hell of a lot worse. "Goodnight beautiful."

"Mmm.. n-night." I mumbled back, feeling my body already drifting off into a light sleep.

When I woke up in the morning I was positively dying from the unwelcome heat emanating off the crime lord's body. I removed his arms from around me and welcomed the brisk morning air. It was early, earlier than I normally wake up but thats to be understood when I had to share a bed with a dick like Gyangu. My head was slightly throbbing from the Sake consumption last night and I stumbled slightly in my walk to the center of the room. I sat on the floor and began meditating, I moved the suppressed chakra throughout my limbs and made sure there was still a flow to the large gathering in the frontal portion of my brain. I could feel every day how much closer I'm getting to unlocking the Strength of 100 seal since starting it over a year ago.

Although I can't run through Katas or any intense exercise, I can do some yoga and flexibility work so I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and began to run through my daily stretches. Tobi has hopefully gotten all of the money and other resources left behind as well as made the best route in and out of the underground castle. If all goes well, I will be able to distract Gyangu long enough this morning for Tobi to escape and him and Deidara to take out all the henchmen before I get to take out Gyangu. All of the secrets he's spilled to me are warrant enough for his death and all of the surrounding lands would side with me when we provide proof. A large wave of chakra shrouded the room, the walls cracked from the pressure. I stopped my stretch and turned to look at Gyangu, he was leaning against the bed frame and his eyes were watching me drowsily. I've never met someone who releases that much chakra as soon as they wake up, the pressure pushing down on me was intense.

"Waking up to the sight of my goddess looking so beautifully flexible might be better than waking up with you in my arms." His voice was raspy from sleep but that did nothing to deter his flirting. "I was so enthralled at the sight I forgot to rein in my chakra, I apologize if I scared you, beautiful."

"I-I'm ok. Did y-you sleep well?" I had to look away to hide my eye roll, talking like this made me feel so wrong.

"Just delightful." He put his hands above his head and stretched, letting out a purr as his bones cracked. He lifted the blankets off of himself and went to the bathroom. When he came back out he walked up to me and ran his fingers over the lace cutouts of my pajamas. "As much as I love to see you so ready for undressing, I have something I would like to show you today." He opened a closet filled with different outfits not dissimilar to the one I was wearing yesterday. "Choose which one you fancy."

"W-what one do you like b-best. I wan't to p-please you." I pulled my hair into a ponytail and waited for him to pick one. His fingers ran over the different textures and designs before stopping at a navy blue one that was a shade darker than my hair.

The dress was strapless, tight at the top, was slightly more loose near the bottom, had a large slit on the left side, and had small cutouts all along my waist and hips. There was a gold belt wrapped around at my hips and under neath my chest as well as at the bottom of the dress where the dress had a gold bracelet that hooked it to my wrist. I was wearing gold sandals and I let my hair hang down loosely.

"The final touch to prove you are _mine." _He spoke lowly and darkly possessive against my ear, his chest pressed against my back as his fingers danced lightly over my collarbone. His hands wrapped around my neck and I got ready to attack but as soon as the pressure was there, it was gone replaced with the cool feeling of a thin golden necklace with his name engraved on the plate. "You've never looked more like a woman than you do right now. As young as you are, I'm going to enjoy watching you blossom into even more of a goddess."

"A-Are you sure this is not too m-much? It's s-so fancy." I poked my fingers together shyly.

"I only want the extravagant and beautiful things by my side, when they see you looking so pulchritudinous they will know you are my queen." He held out his arm to me and I threaded my smaller ones around his, pressing against him. "Now let me take you to my gift I have prepared. I hope it will be as beautiful as you." He undid a seal and we were reverse-summoned by his men into an arena. They were all kneeling on one knee around us and we were at the top balcony looking over a battle arena. I hid myself slightly behind Gyangu's leather clad arm.

"W-Why are we h-here?"

"You told me you found beauty in the brutal destruction of battles so I gathered all of my expendable men to fight to the death in your honor. They are all going to be replaced soon so I want to give you and my men a show." His lips twisted into a nasty smirk and he licked his lips in anticipation of the bloodshed. I pushed down my rage and looked up at him in pseudo glee.

"R-Really? T-that's amazing!" This is perfect, if all of his officers and handy men are watching the bloodbath with us, it will give Tobi the perfect opportunity to complete his part and for Deidara to blow everyone up in one single location. Gyangu stood tall and flared his chakra pushing it to reach the men who were supposed to kill one another. They all looked up at him and were trembling in fear, his face was callus and cold as he looked down on them like they were nothing more than ants under his boot.

"You all will fight to the death, the winner will be paid handsomely and returned to his family. Make this a show men my goddess is watching, do not disappoint her." At the new incentive, the men began yelling and slaughtering one another, it took everything in me not to look away and stop them right now. Gyangu sat down on his 'throne' and bulled me to sit in his lap. His guards stationed themselves besides us and everyone looked on in amusement, they were chuckling and chuckling at any particularly bloody kills. "How do you like it my love, is it up to your standards?"

"It's b-beautiful." I whispered, tightly clasping my hands together to force myself to keep watching. The ground was glistening with fresh crimson and there were dismembered bodies scattered everywhere I looked, men poorly wielding weapons fighting for their lives killed one another. It hurt me deeply to watch all of those innocent men kill each other for someone else's pleasure. The sky was cloudless and there wasn't a bird in sight so when a shadow came over the arena slightly my eyes flickered up. There was a large white bird circling high overhead and I knew that was the signal Tobi was done. Gyangu noticed where I was looking and he released a large KI at Deidara as the blonde bomber swooped down to our level. His hands around me tightened to almost making me breathless and he stayed sitting, glaring intensely at Deidara's smirking form. His guards were on their feet and had weapons drawn at the ready.

"You interrupted my gift for my goddess. To make up for it I will gut you and hang your head on my wall you shitty piece of trash." Gyangu's voice was basically a growl as he spoke to Deidara. I was lifted out of his lap and he placed a kiss to my neck. "Stay back and watch me my darling." He took a step forward and one of his guards came up to protect me.

"Sorry _Master_**_, _**but no can do." The sweet shy stutter was gone from my voice and the underground leader stopped in his tracks, turning to look back at me.

"What are you talking about?" I released the suppression I had on my chakra and used the closeness between Gyangu and I to snap his wrist, his hand locked in mine. "GAH YOU BITCH!"

"You see, my name's not Kurai, its Hinata…" His eyes widened in recognition and were filled with unadulterated rage "And I'm going to kill you, you shitty fucking asshole." His guards came rushing at me but before they closed in, a familiar giggle rang out and one by one they were taken out by Tobi who looked more like he was playing and mocking them than anything else.

"Look, Look Hinata-chan Tobi is a good boy and after Tobi got the money, Tobi came to help!" Tobi was spinning in excited circles, prancing around the men he effortlessly took out.

"Good boy Tobi!" My smile faded as quick as it came and with a vicious snarl I looked back at my target. I put my hand around Gyangu's neck and with quick and heavy force, I crushed his windpipe released him. He spluttered for breath, clutching at his throat. When he keeled over I brought my knee up and slammed his head into it. An army of maybe 100 guards began swarming Tobi and I from both sides. Moving in this outfit was difficult enough for something simple so fighting all of these men, or even escaping them at this point, I was at a disadvantage unless I wanted to strip completely. Deidara noticed my struggle and hopped off his bird, picking me up and grabbing Tobi by the back of his cloak bringing us onto his bird.

"Thanks."

"No problem hmm." He flew up into the sky and dropped a small clay bomb of his C3. When it left his hands it grew to be larger than us and he formed the seal of confrontation."Experience true art, my C3 clay hmm. KATSU!" The bomb exploded in arrays of yellow and orange, the heatwaves from the blast burned against my face. The arena was completely over taken by the blast radius and the seats came crumbling down. When the explosion was over there was only a giant scorched crater and crumbling bricks left. When Deidara says he's a master bomber, he isn't exaggerating in the slightest. He was able to destroy that entire arena and everything in it with a fiery explosion while using little chakra and leaving no smoke clouds. His exceptional use of his explosion release combined with a forbidden jutsu and his talent for art topped with intelligence is amazing, more amazing than I ever gave it credit for.

"Holy Shit Dei that is amazing, I've never seen anything like it!" I was kneeling over the edge of his bird, using chakra to stay attached as I looked below me. Deidara looked down at me to give a proud smile but he stopped and his cheeks flushed red. I realized how I looked and I hurriedly stood up laughing awkwardly. The dress was pretty but it didn't cover enough for me to be kneeling over like that.

"Deidara-Sempai why are you red, did seeing Hinata-chan look inappropriate make you sick?" The masked man asked while tilting his head to the side innocently. Deidara's blush faded and he lunged at Tobi."

"I'm going to kill you Tobi un." Tobi stepped back giggling and fell off the bird, managing to grab onto the wing screaming for help. "Hold on tight, yeah. I'm going to knock him off."

"If I was a nicer person I'd feel bad but I know Tobi will be fine soooo… Lets do it." I fist pumped the air and put a stronger pulse of chakra into my feet and surrounding my shoes to keep me steady on the bird. Deidara smiled viciously down at Tobi and then the bird started dive-bombing speedily towards the ground. The wind was rushing through my hair and overly exposed skin and I raised my arms enjoying the feeling of my stomach flipping and the adrenaline pumping. It was like my own rollercoaster and I let out a few shouts of joy. Before we hit the ground, the bird pulled up and sent us speeding back high in the sky. We went through twists and spirals in the sky but Tobi stayed holding on. "Is this what it always feels like when you fly?"

"Yeah, the feeling of freedom is amazing un. The bursts of speed, the fleeting feeling of my stomach dropping, I love it hmm." Deidara's hair was flowing behind him and he looked so happy at the feeling of flying on his creation. It really was a magical feeling, it was like my mind was completely clear and I felt weightless against the wind.

"I can see why you do it so much." I closed my eyes and just let the feeling of the flight flow through me.

"Not many people like it un but since you appreciate it too, we can do it again." I opened my eyes and bounded over to Deidara in a giddy excitement.

"Hell Yes! Do you really mean it?" I was bouncing in excitement and my eyes were sparkling in joy.

"I can't take you serious when you look like that un." He gestured to my dress. "You look like a sexy princess yeah." Deidara's words could have been a compliment but the teasing tone he used crushed that possibility. I then realized I have no change of clothes until we get back to the hideout, it was fine leaving the hideout looking like a slut because nobody was there but Deidara and Tobi, but Itachi should be back by now and him seeing me dressed like a 'sexy princess' is bound to get him into over protective mode. And if Hidan is there, no. I don't want to deal with that.  
"Well no shit, that's basically the point remember."

"Yeah yeah, I bet you liked this mission you were looking all cozy in that creeps arms un. He even got you to stutter and blush when he gave you sweet kisses _my goddess_!" Deidara was laughing as he made fun of me.

"Yeah I showed exactly how much I liked him by crushing his windpipe."

—

We made it to the hideout a day and a half later, Deidara and Tobi both stayed awake as Deidara directed the bird but I decided to go to sleep. Tobi let me wear his cloak to cover up as I slept, my dress was doing nothing to keep me warm. I was going to wear his robe and just give it back when I changed clothes but Tobi being the troll he is stopped me before I could go in.

"Hinata-channn Tobi needs his cloak back noww!" He sang out. Deidara as much as he hates Tobi knew where this was going and found it extremely amusing to haze the new girl, especially if Hidan is there.

"Please Tobi, can I keep it until I'm clothed like a normal person?" I pouted, trying to give him puppy dog eyes but he just shrugged and kept his giggles up.

"Nopeee."

"Why?"  
"Because Tobi wants everyone to see Hinata-chan all dressed up in small clothes."

"Fuck you Tobi, I thought we were friends." Tobi hugged my side snickering.

"Tobi and Hinata-chan are friends but Hinata-chan is getting punished for being a bad girl and sharing a bed with a bad man!" I could just see the shit-eating grin under his mask, it didn't help that Deidara was wearing one of his own.

"TOBI!" How the hell did he know that? I took off his cloak and glared as I stomped into the hideout. This might be worse than wearing that stupid doll outfit Shisui put me in. When I made it through the maze to get to the actual hideout my feet were aching from the shitty shoes and I was ready to put on something I could move more freely in. In the 'living room' area Kisame was sitting on a couch drinking water and reading a book. He looked up at us as we entered then returned to his book before choking on water and looking back at us wide eyed.

"That's an interesting look you got on kid. Are you trying to seduce someone?" His lips upturned into a sharp-toothed grin. Deidara smirked at my expense and put his elbow on my shoulder.

"She seduced out target. He was kissing all up on her and she was blushing so hard un. If I wasn't there she would have fallen for him yeah."

"You explosive asshole thats not what happened at all!" I glared but it had no effect to counteract the way this stupid dress made me look so unthreatening.

"I don't know kid it sounds like the truth and here I thought you were Itachi's." Deidara and I both gaped at Kisame. We were going to say something but Tobi interrupted.

"Tobi thinks Hinata-chan should show e_verybody_ her dress." I reached out for him but he was gone and Kisame and Deidara were holding me back, keeping me from leaving.

"This is gonna be fun un. That immortal idiot is gonna flip." The bomber boy let out a low and amused chuckle.

"This should be interesting." Kisame replied amicably. They sure chat kindly, it's surprising for Deidara to not hate Kisame too just for being Itachi's partner but maybe he's more reasonable than I thought. Actually scratch that, he's an unreasonable prick for teaming up with Kisame just to get amusement at my misfortune.

That was one of the weirdest experiences in my life. With a not so gentle kick to both males nuts, I managed an escape but on my way to my room Tobi had caught me and Hidan managed to see me which resulted in some not so appropriate words that even put some of my comments to shame (because lets face it most of the dirty crap I've said to my friends has all been joking but I'm almost positive Hidan wasn't). When that was happening Itachi had finally found us and after gawking (in the most unfazed looking expression ever to exist on this world he was as blank as a piece of paper but the slightest blush on his 'innocent' cheeks said otherwise, he was probably so mad at me) he swiftly knocked Hidan out and scolded me for my provocative clothing choices. That let me escape into my room and change into some sweats and go the fuck to sleep. Kakuzu couldn't give any less fucks to join in the adventure since I only looked like a hooker and didn't really make any money so at least he didn't see me looking like a purposely 'sexy princess.'

"Full House Aces over Kings read 'em and weep bitches!" I laid my cards down with a smug smirk stretching across my lips at the impending win of the Texas Hold 'em game Hidan, Tobi, Deidara, Kisame, and I were playing.

"Oh Shit." Hidan mumbled disappointed. The stakes were high, winner gets to pick a loser to be their servant for a day and I'm determined to win and get revenge on Deidara. He's always so cool for someone whose whole point of life is to explode and all of my attempts to piss him off or fluster in revenge for our mission together have been for naught. I got ready to collect all of the makeshift poker chips (using actual chips) when Tobi laid his cards down and giggled, putting a hand over where his mouth would be.

"Hehe Hinata-chan Tobi thinks he wins look!" Everyone at the table stared at Tobi's cards in varying degrees of shock. There in perfect order he had a Royal Flush with spades.

"WHAT THE FUCK YOU ANNOYING LITTLE SHIT YOU CHEATED!" Hidan boomed out, throwing his cards at the table in an extremely entertaining fit.

"No! I would never cheat, Tobi is a good boy!"

"I never thought I'd lose to such an imbecile." There was a grin showcasing the swordsman's extremely sharp teeth but it was anything but nice looking. Deidara was clenching tightly on his cards while sending Tobi a glare strong enough that it made me shudder. The blonde's sky blue eyes locked with mine for a second and he glared harshly at the sadistic grin that my lips were curling into. I could feel the 'fuck you' directed at me just from his glare and the slight sneer on his lips. Kisame immediately took notice of our expressions and laid his cards down, his mood of losing lifted along with mine.

"So Tobi whose your slave for the day?" I asked while trying to contain my giggles. Hidan, Kisame, and my eyes looked over to the fuming Deidara all of us grinning in entertainment at his misfortune. Tobi is practically in love with him and it's a no brainer that he's going to have to spend an entire day with his second least favorite Akatsuki member. Ohh how revenge is so sweet, him spending an entire day with Tobi is even better revenge than anything I could have cooked up. Tobi was sitting on his knees, bouncing up and down as he tapped the lower part of his swirled mask in thought.

"Well Kisame-sma would be fun because he can go swimming with Tobi and Hidan-san is too scary for Tobi, he would yell to much and Hinata-chan is Tobi's bestest friend and partner but Tobi picks Deidara-sempai because Deidara-sempai and Tobi love each other and will have so much fun getting Dango and playing games together!" He clapped his hands together and leaned over the table to put his face close to Deidara's and got instantly shoved back. Deidara glared harshly towards the rest of us.

"Nobody will have to guess how all of you have died."

"Yeah well before that happens explodo-boy don't forget to have a fun with your lover." I smiled cheekily towards him and it only riled him up further.

"HA! I knew you were fucking gay stupid tranny!" **(A/n again not to be offensive its just the way Hidan talks) **Hidan gasped out through his fit of laughter. Kisame and I lost it as well laughing intensely at the dejected and infuriated look of the long haired blonde. Tobi hopped over the Table completely and was rocking back and forth on his heels staring at Deidara.

"Come on Deidara-Sempai, Tobi want's to play and you have to come." Deidara got up with slumped shoulders and grumbled under his breath. "YAYYY!" Tobi cheered out waving his hands erratically as they speedily left the room. I turned my attention from the duo to the giant blue man across from me.

"So Shark Boy was that worth missing a bit of training?" I questioned raising an eyebrow towards the person who was most hesitant on coming. He wanted to train with Samehada… not like he never gets to be with it anyways.

"Yeah kid, you were right this was entertaining." He rolled his small black eyes and stood up from the table, chuckling at my fist pump. When Kisame left the room it was just Hidan and I left. His lips turned into an oh-so-sexy (and slightly intimidating) smirk, his magenta eyes staring directly into mine.

"It's just you and me now. What are we gonna do?" Hidan makes me nervous, everything he does somehow makes me flustered in a way I never knew could happen to me but besides all the flirting and apparent love he has for my 'dark side' if you will, he's actually pretty fun to be around.

"Actually I was wondering if you'd tell me about Jashinism. I'm pretty in the dark about what it really is and it's interesting so I'm all ears to learning about your god of chaos." Hidan's eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped open in disbelief before a truly happy look took over his features. From what I've heard nobody really respects Hidan or believes in his god what-so-ever but if he's truly immortal there has to be some truth to it and I want to know what because if all the idiots like Orochimaru and Sasori want to be immortal I don't get why they wouldn't just become a Jashinist too (it's not like they don't like chaos and destruction too).

"I knew there was a reason Lord Jashin brought us together. Finally a person who is willing to listen to the divine being that is Lord Jashin." Hidan and I grabbed something to drink and for the next hour+ he told me about Jashinism, how he became a Jashinist, and answered all of the questions I had. As much as I thought he was just a mindless killer, he actually has a pattern to his kills and reasons for each of them. He never kills anyone under the age of 12, he rarely kills anyone who cant fight back, and the reason for his killings are just as sacrificial lambs to Jashin, not for his own pleasure (he gets the pleasure from their pain but doesn't just kill them to feel good). I still don't want to make light on a lot of the dikish and 'evil' things he does because I still don't like killing all that much but I understand more now that everything he does has a purpose to serve his God. In a way he is the most selfless of all of us, his personal agenda is to serve someone else.

He left his village because he was training to be a ninja but when he was starting out Yugakure decided to become a commercial village and Hidan didn't like how it seemed his village sold itself out just to make more money so when he was contacted by Jashin he jumped at the opportunity. He also grew up in an abusive household so he killed his parents as his first sacrifices and did the same to everyone he and Jashin deemed the lowest of the low in his village and they all turned into sacrifices for a "divine cause." The chaos that Hidan caused when he went rogue was enough to fuel his gods craving for chaos and each mass killing or attach he does with the Akatsuki is fulfilling the chaotic and bloody lifestyle his god demands.

Immortality is also not granted to those who believe in Jashin, it is granted to those who truly follow the will of Jashin and pray to him/it religiously with and without their sacrifices. Immortals are few and far between and the symbol of Jashin worn around Hidan's neck is a symbol to all other followers that he is of the highest caliber (kind of like an angel or one of Jesus' disciples ) vessel of Lord Jashin. He also has a tattoo of the symbol on his right bicep which appeared when he was granted immortality (the tattoo he proudly showed off and let me touch and hot damn his arms are rock hard).

The main question I had was about his whole pleasure/pain thing and Hidan feels pain so if I stabbed him in the chest it would hurt him the same it would hurt me. The way he feels pleasure is when he is in the ritual and feels the pain of his sacrifice flooding through his body, something about the pain of his victim flooding between them and through Jashin is like the equivalent of sexual pleasure. It's like the feeling of suffering shared with another person just makes him feel exhilarated which kind of freaked me the fuck out because the whole causing pain to others for your own pleasure makes little to no sense to me. Hidan is also kind of a dumbass which I kind of knew but it is super entertaining to see how dumb he is in comparison to a group of genius level ninja. He also flirts constantly with only me because of how I fight or whatever and it's kind of awkward but also extremely entertaining and after hours of talking we are basically best friends because lets add another fucked up person to my list of "I'm friends with mentally unstable killers part 1000000."

"I could drink you under the table."

"You're a minor and half my damn size, one drink and you'll be so fucked." The silver haired immortal yelled back at me.

"No way in hell, I've been learning how to hold alcohol since I was 12 by a master." No way in hell would I lose, Tsunade never seems to be drunk and she drinks like an alcoholic, she does this thing where she uses medical ninjutsu as she drinks to slightly counteract the alcohol to allow her to drink mass amounts without fully getting drunk or getting alcohol poisoning. I've had a few drinks with her and feel like I'd never lose this to a person like Hidan.

"Shut your damn mouth you fucking liar." Hidan and I were extremely close arguing with one another before I shot up and stomped to the kitchen grabbing the 4 bottles of Sake and setting them down between us. Hidan licked his lips and he grabbed one of the bottles, I took another.

"We take one shot every 2 minutes and the first one who is too tipsy to continue loses." I poured my first cup of Sake, Hidan doing the same.

"No chakra, this is a test of tolerance not who can fuckin' control chakra better." My face went slightly pale and Hidan grinned towards me, raising his glass and taking the shot in a single gulp without flinching. It would have been smart for me to back out then and there, no way could I out drink him without chakra, it was physically impossible, but me being a hardheaded idiot decided to continue with the competition anyways. Losing to Tobi had already wrecked my pride what's one more going to do. I took the shot and winced slightly at the burning sensation of the alcohol making its way down my esophagus.

—

_(3d POV)_

Hidan easily swallowed another shot grinning in amusement at the girl pouting across from him as she struggled to down the sake, barely managing to keep it down. Her cheeks were flushed from the alcohol and she was swaying in her seat slightly. The Jashinisht was on cloud nine, telling her no chakra usage was genius because her small sized body can't hold alcohol the same way his tall and muscled form can giving him an automatic win. After about 4 shots she was already getting drunk and by the 8th one Hidan knew the pretty little Hyuga wouldn't remember the rest of the night. He was buzzed and extremely entertained at the drunk rambling of his soon to be woman (at least in his mind).

She was pouting because Hidan said Spider-man is stupid, not that he knows who that is, but by her giddy face talking about the spider-asshole made him want to see what would happen if he insulted the fucker. Hinata went off on a rant on everything wonderful about Peter Parker and although she made little to no sense, her passion and adorable way of cursing like a sailor made Hidan think she was even better than before. When the silver haired man saw Hinata for the first time he was in love with her fighting style it was brutal and bloody then when she fought him he got to see the elegance and beauty in her fighting, it was a perfect and deadly combination that his Lord approved of.

When looking at her Hidan could admit she was pretty, one of the most drop dead gorgeous girls he'd ever seen, if you were into the pretty ninja princesses and dainty looking girls that is, and he assumed with her look (completely ignoring her fighting) she'd probably be timid and quiet, a pure bred Hyuga. That was until he'd finally spent time with her. She was smart, too damn smart and talked people in circles sometimes but she also was random and sarcastic and had an extremely foul mouth. He felt like his Lord had sent Hinata to him as a reward, she was perfect in every way for Hidan, she could handle his cursing and actually spent the time to learn about Jashinism instead of blowing him off like everyone else in this damned organization.

"You know you're kinda hott~" Hinata slurred as she rested her cheek in her hand. The alcohol had fully taken over her system and she was a goner, all filters she previously was keeping in check were gone. Telling Sasori he;s hot is one thing but telling Hidan, the person who had made it clear he wanted her, was something sober Hinata would probably not have done. Hidan leaned across the small table between them and his eyes were staring directly into her lidded ones.

"Of course I am. What else do you think hot bitch?"

"I get, mm" her head started to slip out of her hand as she talked "kissed by hot guys too much and it makes my brain—fuzzy." Hidan raised an eyebrow in question, that was not the answer he was expecting or wanting to hear.

"Who the fuck has been kissing you?" Hinata's flushed cheeks heated up even more and she giggled, moving to lay in Hidan's lap. A surprising gesture for her, usually awake she is a hyper as fuck girl but drunk she's more mellowed out. She already drank past the dancing stage of drunk and went straight into the 'ready to pass out' stage. SHe raised her fingers to count off trying to remember all of the times she had been kissed by somebody else, struggling to really remember anything.

"'Tachi and his brother duckbutt, Shika, Naru-kind of, and Shika again." Hidan took in the information then lost it in uncontrollable and obnoxious laughter. He was never going to let that high and mighty Sharingan asshole act so much better than anyone else when he and his brother had kissed the same girl and probably doesn't know.

"You, you kissed Uchiha and his brother!" Hinata shot out of Hidan's lap on shaky legs, pointing at him.

"They kissed ME!" She whined before losing it completely and collapsing into the Jashinist lap.

"What the fuck?" He looked down at her barely awake face and she smiled at him, wrapping her body around his and falling into a drunken induced sleep. Hidan was tempted to leave her sleeping on the ground, it's not his problem that she fell asleep but when Itachi walked in the room to grab food before going back to his room to do god knows what Hidan thought of something more entertaining; trying to piss off the ever stoic Uchiha. Itachi usually ignored Hidan's presence but when he saw the familiar navy strands of hair across his arm, he stepped closer to Hidan. Everything went red when he saw the Hidan smirking with the faint pink blush of intoxication, Sake bottles, and a passed out Hinata in his shirtless lap.

"What. did. you. do." He growled out lowly making Hidan smirk even wider.

"The dumbass challenged me to a drink off, I won. Now I'm going to take her shitty ass to go to her room to fuckin' sleep. What the fuck do you want Uchiha?" Hidan slid his arms under her legs and head, lifting her up then throwing her on his back. He could feel her slow breaths against his neck and the strong smell of Sake permeated his senses. With only a slight stumble Hidan pushed past Itachi, his magenta eyes taunting the Uchiha to do something.

"I'll take her." Hidan stopped in his movements and his slightly face twisted into a sadistic and wild grin.

"What so you can fucking kiss her again?" Itachi stopped in his movements, face unchanging at yet another person learning of his kiss with the younger girl who was peacefully sleeping and mumbling nonsense. Hidan cackled and dropped the last bomb hoping for more of a reaction. "Don't worry about that your shitty little brother had that part covered until the hot bitch met me." Itachi's mind was reeling, his foolish little brother had finally kissed Hinata after years of pretending not to like her. If he was anybody else he would have been jealous but the older Uchiha felt nothing but happiness that his brother finally grew a pair and kissed Hinata. It meant that Sasuke was happy, that he wasn't as emotionally scarred as he attempted to leave him as and it's all the Byakugan princesses doing. Itachi's lips turned up into the smallest of smiles and he let out a single chuckle, his eyes never leaving the partially hidden face of Hinata.

He shook his head and his blazing red eyes softened slightly. Hinata really was on her way of starting her own Harem and if Shisui was right in his encrypted PS, it would only keep growing. Itachi noticed how the normally feral Hidan, who sacrificed everyone he could and had no ounce of kindness in his body, was treating Hinata as gentle as possible for the rogue psychopath. The black haired man knew that Hidan wasn't lying with all of his 'confessions' towards the wild Hyuga, Hidan was an idiot but he never lied about anything, it didn't go along with his religion or whatever so as much as Itachi didn't want to trust Hidan, he knew that Hinata would be (in relative terms) safe with the Jashinist so before Hidan could provoke any more reactions, he walked away. Besides if Hidan does anything even slightly bad to Hinata he would rip his head off and feed him is own body parts for food. Itachi mentally reminded himself to check in on the girl later to see if she was having any nightmares or if the alcohol would be enough to knock her into a dreamless sleep. Plus he wanted to see her hungover, that would be interesting to say the least. Shisui had made Itachi find the amusement in an irritated Hinata.

"What in the goddamned fuck just happened?" Hidan spoke to himself in pure confusion. He wanted to piss off the Uchiha bastard, to get some kind of reaction out of him but never did he think he would _smile. _That little shit fucking smiled when Hidan mentioned his brother, he thought he'd at least be shocked that Hidan finally knew he had a brother. He was wanting a fight but no that goddamned atheist just smiled like hearing his birther and him kissed the same (taken in his mind) girl was great news. "Thank Lord Jashin that I'm the only child."

In Hidan's getting more drunk by the minute mindset after downing a fuck ton of alcohol he struggled to find Hinata's room so he brought them both to his room and threw her on the bed before laying next to her and passing the fuck out, not after going into 'greedy old bastards' room and messing up his stacks of devil money not giving a fuck about the high chance of getting his arm chopped off tomorrow.

—

(Hinata POV)

I woke up in the morning and my head felt like someone had decided to throw a rave that got shot up inside my brain. I vaguely remember starting a drinking contest with Hidan and us getting into a heated argument about what is better: pleasure from pain or pleasure from winning and then fighting about Spider-man maybe but that one might be a figment of my imagination. After the 5th or 6th shot everything is completely blank and honestly I don't know if I want to remember what I did. It was only after the pain in my head ebbed enough for me to open my eyes that I realized I wasn't in my room and by the slightly metallic smell of the room it was definitely Hidan's. My hands went to feel my body and I was still fully clothed so I didn't do anything that stupid I just don't know how I wound up in his room… alone.

"Oh damn, fuck me sideways, I feel like I was hit with a freight train." I groaned as I pushed myself into a sitting position, the crimson colored blankets pooling around my lap. My hands went to block the fucking bright ass sun from my eyes and I staggered out the door, hissing at the brighter lights that came from the white ceiling lights. I made it to my room and stripped down to just my underwear and wrapped up in the covers to sleep of the shitty feeling of a hangover. Note to self: don't drink when you can't use chakra… or ya know don't get drunk but whatever. When I woke up once more there was a note on my bedside table, a glass of water and some type of pill or something. The note read:

_Dearest Hinata-hime,_

_Sleep off your hangover, you looked a slightly unwell when I checked on you this morning. Drink the water and take the pill, that should lessen the side affects. Love, _

_I.U._

_P.S. I hope you had fun kissing my foolish little brother._

I groaned as I gulped down the glass and knew I said somethings last night to Hidan that he just couldn't wait to share to people. I could hear Itachi's amusement from his stupidly perfect writing. Fuck my life.


	19. Orochimaru

"Leader-Sama I know this is unorthodox but I would like to request to lead a mission of 5 members alongside myself and Tobi. When I joined I was informed that I would be given the opportunity to take my revenge on Orochimaru and to do this in a timely manner I need other members to aid me. Orochimaru has been a thorn in everyone's side and killing him now with help will be more beneficial than letting Tobi and I do it on our own over a longer span of time." Pain was sitting with his hands interlocked in front of his face as I kneeled below him, my eyes staying locked onto his Rinnegan.

"You have three weeks, if your mission is not accomplished by this time everyone else is to return home at once." Pain's deep voice boomed throughout my shoddy lit room. Konan was standing by his side and I flashed her a smile before turning back to cadaver of sorts and gave a quick bow.

"Thank you Leader-Sama!" Their chakra made holograms faded the slight buzzing on my Akatsuki ring faded signaling the meeting is over. Everyone was gathered in the Hideout for the first time in a few months, perfect for me to gather my allies. Me, Kisame, Kakuzu (who I bribed to give him the bounty off of Orochimaru if he came), Hidan, Tobi, Itachi, and Deidara were sitting around the floor staring at a map of the continent.

"So from the intel Sasori gave me and everything I have gathered myself, Orochimaru has more or less of 20 hideouts scattered throughout every land. If you find Orochimaru in your area, alert me immediately and I will be there. Same goes for me, I will let whoever's closest to aid me when I find him. If you are the one to find Hiashi Hyuga drop whatever you are doing and get him to safety, bring him to the gate of the leaf village and I will give you whatever you want in return. He is not to be harmed by you under any circumstances if I find out otherwise I will kill you in the most brutal ways possible. Shark Boy." I circled the area between Kiri and the land of waves. "You are going to be here, water is your strong suit and you know the layout of the area surrounding Kirigakure better than the rest of us so you will find the hideouts in this area and if they are empty destroy them. One hideout I know of in that area is being ran by a girl not much older than me named Karin. Orochimaru never goes to that hideout so don't worry about finding him, just destroy it. Karin can sense chakra at an inhuman level, being able to distinguish chakra up to 80 kilometers away, she's not much of a combatant though so be warned. If possible get her to join but if she refuses do whatever necessary to stop her and anyone else that stands in your way. I want the prisoners from that area to be released and to spread the news that Orochimaru is going to meet his end."

"Sounds intriguing." Kisame flashed me a grin and tightened his straps holding Samehada in place.

"Dei."

"Hmm?" I circled around the Land of Wind and marked the areas that known hideouts were located.

"You have the largest search radius to look. When you find a hideout if Orochimaru is not there you are to light it up. I want it to be known that you were the one who took down the hideouts, make it big and flashy. We're sending a message."

"Sounds like a blast, un." Deidara had large bags of clay strapped to each of his sides, an excited and maniacal grin on his face. He was one of the most ready to kill Orochimaru, they have some kind of score to settle for reasons he wont tell me.

"Kakuzu and Hidan, you are taking the Land of Fire together, it's Orochimaru's home so there are many hideouts in the surrounding area. There are also a lot of Orochimaru's willing subordinates hanging out in these hideouts so your job is to slaughter them all. Sacrifice them, keep them for bounty I don't care they're all gone. You two are probably the ones who wouldn't die on what should be a suicide mission."

"Fuck yeah, Lord Jashin is going to love this!"

"Hear that idiot, don't die. I'm not going to come save your ass." Kakuzu stated gruffly, smacking Hidan on the back of the head.

"Every damn time… That's not something you say to me you greedy old fucker… If they can kill me, I couldn't be happier. Although… they can't!" Hidan gave me a proud boastful grin promising to fulfill my wishes making me smile and roll my eyes.

"'Tachi." His blazing red eyes turned to meet mine and he was pissed. He wanted to join me as protection but I need him elsewhere and we had an argument about it for the longest time so I changed his positioning to make him the closest to my location. The stubborn ass. "You are Taking care of The Land of Earth outside of Iwagakure. This one is a stealth mission, we do not need the Tsuchikage on our asses for any reason, take down the hideouts and if you don't find Orochimaru as soon as you can get out and join me in Otogakure. There is one hideout there filled with curse mark experiments and a boy by the name Jūgo. Kill the experiments, put them out of their misery Orochimaru casued but make sure you save Jūgo, you can only calm him with your Sharingan and make sure he knows you can."

"Yay it's finally Tobi's turn what does Hinata-chan want?"

"Tobi you are out wild card, you can sneak in and out of places unseen when you want to and are the only person I think can escape if somehow the Raikage somehow gets wind of us being near the borders of Kumogakure. Like the Land of Earth, the Land of Lightning has few hideouts but they still need to be stripped and destroyed."

"Tobi will do his best Hinata-chan!"

"And last but not least, when you go into the hideouts, if you come across a boy named Suigetsu Hozuki, bring him to me or the hideout. If I find out you killed him I will shove your balls so far up you, they'll come out your throat." Everyone was packed and ready to go, my entire body was humming in anticipation. It's time I'm finally going to get my dad back and Orochimaru is going to lose everything he worked for as well as his life. Kabuto has been off the grid. As much as I want to shove a kunai in his chest, he is even more elusive than Orochimaru, his skills as a spy are no joke and he has all but disappeared doing whatever it is he does, he is not my target for now.

—

After searching endlessly with my Byakugan I found the entrance to Otogakure. The people here were dressed like civilians but their chakra flow, even when suppressed, was not able to hide from my vision. I was wearing Shisui's clothing still but this time I had my Akatsuki cloak on and unbuttoned, it billowed behind me like a menacing cape as I walked straight into the village. When the people who seemed to be hidden guards caught sight of my cloak they landed in front of me blocking my pathway, weapons at the ready.

"What do you want puny Akatsuki scum?" My lips turned into a vicious smirk as I circulated chakra into my hands.

"Where is Orochimaru?" The men in front of me scoffed and narrowed their eyes.

"If you think we'd betray out Lord like that-" Without giving any more time to respond my hand was punctured through the both of their chests. I sharpened my chakra to that of a blade and enhanced it to break through the bones shredding through their weak frames and piercing their hearts. Blood came dripping out of their mouthes before they were both limp on my arms. I tossed their lifeless bodies to the side carelessly and wiped the blood against my cloak, continuing my walk into the village, Byakugan still activated to see where a hideout would be located. The underground here was filled with catacombs that at some point should lead me to the various hideouts scattered throughout. Each and every person that got in my way was cut down, my kunai supply was already running low but it didn't matter, I just continued on my blood ridden path further and further into the elusive village.

Every slash filled me with guilt of all the lives taken by my hand, the further I went into the village the more my nightmares came flooding forward but I pushed them down and locked them, letting the overwhelming rage take over. Rage for everything that happened, for losing my father, for not being able to help Orochimaru change, for all the pain and fear that still lingers.

Finally I saw a point in the underground catacombs that had a drop off and chakra suppressant seal. I slammed my heel into the ground and let it shatter at the entrance where I took off the seal and entered the hideout. The lights were dim and the walls were uniform in the deep brown of the soil that was packed and hardened. There were small lanterns lighting up the way in the small hideout. There were two rooms, both of them devoid of any human chakra. There were papers scattered around the room all with failed chemical equations that I had never seen before. There was nothing of use anywhere so I attached one of the paper-bombs to the celling and continued my journey through the tunnel. When I was far enough away, I activated the paper bomb and choked a bit on the large burst of dirt and dust from the total annihilation of the hideout.

I repeated the process a few times over until I reached the largest Hideout I had been inside of. My heart was racing and when I looked inside of the hideout, there was a massive chakra just waiting behind the wall. The familiar and intense slither of the chakra as well as the crushing bloodlust coming from it heightened my senses to the extreme and my body was trembling in a mix of anger and fear. I sent 4 small bursts of chakra into my ring to let everyone know I found him.

—

(3d POV)

When Hinata's chakra flared out the intensity of her rage was felt in a crushing force as the walls around her shook. Behind the closed door, Orochimaru's tongue ran languidly over his lips and fangs, his mouth stretching out into a smirk of sadistic amusement. Oh how much he loved her anger, he didn't have to do anything. Keeping her father was a perfect plan in getting his little pet to come finding him. Even better, she didn't try to sneak and attempt to assassinate him, she took out his finest men and busted through his front door alerting him of his presence. This game was fun for him and the snake-like human was ready for the next stage. He already brought the darkness into her, all he had to do was bring out that darkness and she'd be his little pet. Breaking a few of her bones now will be beneficial to fully make her obedient. She was so close last time, all he wanted to do was give that little push off the deep end and into insanity.

His long pale fingers clasped together in the snake seal and the walls surrounding them collapsed. The sunlight flooded in the makeshift battle ground illuminating the two competitors. Orochimaru was calm and composed, his yellow eyes were staring at the girl in front of him with no attempt to mask his excited thrill at her state. Hinata was glaring daggers at Orochimaru, her teeth were bared in an aggressive snarl and her lavender eyes were narrowed dangerously, the veins from her Byakugan bulging from her face.

"Oh my darling little Hyuga how I've waited for you to come back to me. You've been such a bad girl I'm afraid I'll have to punish you again." At the slight mention of what he had Kabuto do, the navy haired girl took a step back, her eyes flashing with fear before she grit her teeth and let out a growl. That bit of fear in her eyes had Orochimaru letting out a little laugh, oh how entertaining this was going to be indeed.

"Fuck off." She snarled.

"Oh you're still so uncouth, I would have thought your father would have taught you better by now. Oh… wait." He spoke with such fake sympathy all of her fear was gone an Hinata was raging, gripping her fists to tightly together blood began to drip down her fingers and onto the ground below.

"_Where. is. he_, WHERE THE HELL IS MY DAD!" The low growl turned into a pained and angry scream

"He's not here if that's what you're wondering. He's locked up in another one of my hideouts, if only you had found him instead of me, you'd get to see your loving father once again. He's really been strong, none of the experiments we've done have managed to break him. He was being so strong for you, pity." The snake bastard teased, trying to rile the already entertaining girl up. The madness, the rage in her expression was fueling him. He loved it, he _thrived _on it, he was going to break her completely and she'd submit to him wholly just like the rest of them.

(With Itachi)

When Itachi felt his ring pulse with Hinata's 4 beat code his heart started beating faster and his speed increased that much more through the Northern Hideout. He didn't want her to be the one to find Orochimaru, he had seen the darkness that the monster forced upon Hinata, he had been there to help calm her after her nightmares. The Uchiha prodigy didn't know if Hinata would be able to face him alone. Sure, she was strong enough but sometimes its those who are strong that are mentally the weakest. He could see her struggling with herself, pushing down all of her feelings and masking them. Itachi should know, he has been doing it for years. Seeing Orochimaru is going to make that gate burst and he didn't know if she could handle it alone.

All the boy wanted to do was turn around and head to Otogakure as backup, he didn't like not being there to protect her. If she got hurt or worse, he would be breaking his brothers one wish and Itachi couldn't live with himself if that happened. But he'd be damned if he didn't save this Jūgo guy, Hinata begged him and as much as he wanted to say no, if she felt like the boy deserved a better life, Itachi would comply to her and help save him. If he's the only one she's saving, there's something special about him and that was enough to have Itachi rush into a hideout filled with half human half monster people who were begging for their painful lives to end. Even as a pacifist at heart, the amount of killing has numbed Itachi, each person whose life he ended did nothing to phase him, at least this time they weren't crying in anguish because of him.

When Itachi reached the top floor, he opened each room and when Jūgo wasn't there, he killed the 'prisoner.' It was finally a room locked heavily in the right wing of the hideout that he knew he had found his target. With a small fireball, he melted the locks and opened the door ready for whatever is behind this heavily guarded door in a place full of monsters. Instead of a half morphed person like he was expecting, there was a large broad teenager with bright orange hair. He was sitting with his knees pressed up to his chest and he was trembling, staring at his own hands in fear. Jūgo's orange eyes met Itachi's burning red ones and Itachi watched in interest as the fear dulled and they became clouded over. Red markings spread from his left hand covering half of his body and turning his skin grey and hard like stone. The Uchiha recognized this as the curse mark, but it had no remnants of Orochimaru's chakra. Jūgo's face morphed into a wild grin and he let out a booming cackle.

"Perfect, it's a man. I'll KILL YOU!" The massive frame of the boy hurdled speedily at Itahci, his fist quadrupled in size and spiked protruded from his skin. With a swift counter, Jugo's hand implanted itself into the uncut granite wall behind Itachi, cracks forming and crumbling around the impact point. Itachi flickered in front of the raging and mentally unstable boy, he brought their heads together, gripping the back of the cursed boy's neck and locking eyes.

"Calm Down." His Sharingan bore into the orange and yellow eyes of Jūgo, persuading his mind to relax. The scaled markings covering the boy faded and he was released. His orange eyes were open wide in shock as he took in the appearance of Itachi.

"H-how?"

"Jūgo-san my name is Itachi Uchiha and I have been sent to rescue you from Orochimaru."

"You can't just lock me back up, I-I don't want to hurt anyone else." The orange hared male turned to walk back into his cage but Itachi stopped him. This boy was like him, he didn't want to hurt people but had no choice; no wonder Hinata wanted to save him. He was a pure soul.

"You wont, I can promise that. I calmed you down, I will do it again. You will be able to be free, experience the beauty of nature, find people who care about you. I will be your cage, you won't have to accidentally hurt anybody anymore." The taller teen looked over Itachi and when he found no hint of insincerity, he relaxed. Itachi didn't hold the same dark harshness Kimimaro had but his eyes were just as sincere at wanting to help Jūgo he wanted to follow him. Kimimaro was gone but Itachi was here, he'd be able to live again without the fear of snapping and rampaging.

"Ok, I will follow you Itachi-sama." Together they left, rushing to Hinata's side as Itachi informed his new companion what was going on and how Hinata was the one to want him to be saved.

(With Kisame)

When Kisame felt Hinata's chakra code pulse his teeth spread into a grin. He was glad she found him, although he wanted to be the one to crush Orochimaru her vendetta was interesting and he wanted to see if she truly could take him out, from what Itachi said it's possible but Kisame wanted to see what the small fry had in her. And he was having fun destroying things and Samehada was enjoying the chakra meals he was getting from the people who tried to fight them both. They were at the last hideout, the one where the Karin girl was in charge of and damn she was annoying. Her chakra sensory skills were no joke though, she sensed Kisame's unreal chakra from miles away and knew id they fought, she would lose so she was buying her time until she could find a way to escape.

"I just got the signal, Orochimaru is as good as dead now that he's facing her. Eh, brat are you going to join us or what, I'm itching for a fight if you say no."

"Lord Orochimaru wouldn't lose to some stupid _girl_. Hmph, you should just leave me to my business." Karin pouted, crossing her arms in annoyance. This was bad, he was expecting a response sooner than later and if she said she'd leave with them she was dead and if she said she wouldn't, she was dead. It was a matter of the lesser of two evils, face Orochimaru's wrath or this large shark man. "And as for leaving, it's impossible. I'm the warden here I keep these lowlives in charge, I can't leave my post." She was going to hightail it out of there, if she moved quick enough and held him down with chakra chains she should be able to escape, and releasing an inmate or two to distract the sword wielder would be better than having Orochimaru find her after leaving, the torture she would ensue would break her. She's done it enough to others to know her horrific fate.

"Suit yourself, Samehada is going to have fun shredding you." Kisame swung his sword down at the redhead but with nimble movements she managed to dodge and make her way out the door, bursting open a jail cell, yelling at the inmate to attack. Before he could do anything, he was shoved back into the cell and they all watched in extreme fear and mild fascination as Karin tried to use her chakra chains only to fail and have her chakra drained before her body was sliced to ribbons and thrown in the water, staining it red for the sharks to devour her. Kisame stalked back into the 'prison' and grinned menacingly at all the cowering men.

"Ah what a waste of time, at least the brat had a large supply of chakra for Samehada." He swung his sword with ease, knocking the metal barred doors off their hinges and standing in front of it, his large frame towering over the trembling men who were accepting their deaths. "You are free to go from this crap hole, unless you want to fight that is. I'm itching for a good opponent." Everyone shook their heads in hasty no's, their wide and fearful eyes looking up at Kisame like he was insane.

"W-We're free to g-go?"

"Yep! Make sure you spread the news that Orochimaru is dead, killed by the Akatsuki." Kisame had faith the snake Sanin who had been a thorn in everyone's side was going to die, whose hand to do the job he was unsure but he knew Itachi wouldn't let him live even if Hinata failed. The creep pushed his luck one too many times, nobody gives a more deadly wrath than a woman scorned, or an Uchiha who is protecting someone they love. Kisame strapped Samehada onto his back and strutted out of the hideout deciding to meet up with Itachi back at the hideout, by the time he reached Hinata's position the deed would be finished. Although he wouldn't admit it, he was hoping the little Hyuga won her battle, he'd finally accept that she's a hell of a fighter if she beats someone on his caliber plus the kid is entertaining and Itachi's his friend and first comrade he doesn't want to shred so having her lose would make their often quiet travel that much more unbearable.

(Deidara)

Deidara was highly disappointed, he wanted to be the one to blow Orochimaru to high hell. That snake freak has been pissing him off since their first meeting, Deidara was the better partner for Sasori and he'd kill anyone who said otherwise. He respected his elder, he had a narrow-minded and convoluted view on what art was but Sasori is a respectable man and Orochimaru is a prick, a prick who was obsessed with the clan he hated most. He praised the Uchiha's eyes like it was true art, something sent from the heavens above when the eyes were truly nothing more then cursed. A man with such views, someone who every interaction had made Deidara blow his top deserved to be blown to bits. Unfortunately for him, Hinata got lucky and was the one to find the bastard. At least the one to end Orochimaru's life was Hinata and not Hidan or god-forbid Itachi, he would get over it since she's his friend. She respects his art and even sees the beauty in it, she's pretty fun and he can tease her without getting almost-decapitated. Plus she's interesting, like a puzzle he wants to figure out, her personality is fiery and erratic but intelligent and he never know's what she's gonna do or say. Unlike Sasori who is aggravated with the girl, Deidara enjoys her company more than anyone else he's ever met.

The blonde bomber grinned wildly as he watched the followers of Orochimaru finally become beautiful, he released an array of small C2 bombs, letting them all attach onto people and watching in glee as their bodies were blown apart. Each hideout was a beautiful sight when he finally turned the areas into his art, the bright flashes of yellows and oranges as his bombs went off in vivid and beautiful art. It was nothing short of spectacular, the intense and fleeting moment of the explosion, the heat from the blasts, the aftermath of there being nothing left. He got to let loose and destroy the property of a man he hated, it was amazing. He took out the sentinels then the bases, if he gave nobody a chance for them to spot him, there would be no chance for survivors. After taking down all of the bases he could find, he flew full speed to Otogakure, maybe he'd be able to deliver the finishing blow and if not, he'd take the surely exhausted girl home and make Itachi walk, the only time he can make the 'too cool for any-fucking-thing' Uchiha is when Hinata is involved and Deidara will continue to exploit that to it's fullest until he can finally rid the world of those dreaded eyes.

(Tobi)

Tobi's job was easy for him, almost hilariously so. He slipped in and out of each hideout around Kumo with little to no effort. All of the people there were not worth his time, they had nothing that would benefit him so when he destroyed each hideout, he let them parish too. When he got Hinata's notification he was amused and intrigued. Orochimaru was no joke of an opponent, he was a difficult to kill snake that was getting closer and closer to needing to be taken out. Tobi fought Hinata when she was young, she was extremely skilled as a child, and had a loudmouth with information that she shouldn't have had and Tobi wanted to see how this one would turn out. If Hinata had not grown since childhood she would parish but from the information Zetsu had given, her abilities have grown exponentially putting her in the upper half of strength in the Akatsuki so hopefully she'd win.

If she died it wouldn't be bad but Tobi was rooting for her to win, she was a very nice girl if nothing else. When they'd met the first time, she was so loving and determined, that fire to protect Shisui reminded him how Rin always had that burning desire to help him and her wild personality that didn't fit the norm reminded him slightly of his younger self, the person he was going to become once more. Hinata was also the only person in the Akatsuki (who didn't know who he was) who was always kind to him, it showed how she was a nice person even though she was slightly lost in the darkness. He wouldn't lie and say he wasn't fond of the girl the more time he spent with her the more he grew to like her presence, she was strong, kind, smart, weird, and beautiful but she was also something he had to watch. She knew who he was when she was a child and how she knew plagued his mind sometimes and if she were to find out again it would make things more difficult, only time will tell what he has to do to the Hyuga.

(Hidan and Kakuzu)

Hidan nor Kakuzu cared when they weren't the ones to find the Sanin. The Jashinist had the fullest faith in Hinata, she was his girl and wouldn't go down to some shitty atheist, false immortality bastard like Orochimaru. They fought and there was no way she wouldn't kill Orochimaru too, a girl like her, one who slaughtered the sound 4 wouldn't lose. Kakuzu was getting the bounty either way so at least he didn't have to go through the time of using his resources to get to Orochimaru himself, this way he was able to find other men with bounties on their heads while Hinata was getting the largest bounty he'd ever gain on her own.

Besides, fighting Orochimaru would only be one worthy sacrifice for his lord but her sending him to the most populated hideouts at the moment has allowed Hidan to rack up sacrifices and not have to go against his commandments by only doing half-kills like the fucking Akatsuki leader has been making him do. His lord was pleased and it pleased Hidan, Lord Jashin deserved his sacrifices, deserved to see slaughter and this was filled with it, the floors were stained red.

"Ahh do you feel that, lets experience the upmost suffering together. Let me your agony as you become Lord Jashin's. Dying feels amazing but living through your pain feels even better!" His body was almost overwhelmed in pleasure as he completed his ritual at the hideout, the mutual pain coursing though his and his victims bodies was mouthwateringly savory. Their agony radiating through his body felt euphoric, it was amazing. If only he didn't have the antisocial old fucker Kakuzu with him, he always rushed his rituals and stooped so low as to defile a persons death by killing them for money.

At the last hideout after all the people willing to fight were dead, they entered the underground labyrinth and checked in each room, Kakuzu only taking things of value. There were a few prisoners that they released (much to Hidan's dismay) until Hidan reached a cell not only locked normally, but with seals to block the usage of Chakra within the room as well. Who or whatever was in there was important enough to be locked up with such high security and with no hesitation, Hidan cut the door down and went in seeing a malnourished brunette man.

"Hey, Kakuzu is this the man the hot bitch was talking about? He looks pathetic for a clan leader." Kakuzu went over to the room and looked inside. He looked at his bingo book and although the man looked frail and he was littered in scars it was no doubt Hiashi Hyuga. The man had a bounty of over 800 million Ryo but Orochimaru's was more than double, as well as the gift she was promising, and he knew it would be more profitable for him to save the man for Hinata and gain her reward than to cash Hiashi's head for money.

"You did something right for once. Let Hinata know and we'll bring him close to Konohagakure." Kakuzu slung the man over his broad shoulder and started walking out, ignoring the annoyed shouts of his companion. Hiashi didn't even groan as he was carried like a rag-doll, his body was barely functioning at this point and his chakra was weak to borderline death, he didn't even know what was happening, being carried he just assumed it was for another experiment. Little did he know, his staying strong would end well, he would finally see his daughters again and return home away from this hellhole.

"Oh man, hot bitch is gonna fucking love me for this." He grinned, his magenta orbs glowing as he pulsed his chakra in tow sets of 3 letting them know he had found and is returning Hiashi to Konohagakure.

Hinata was gripping Orochimaru by his pale throat, her eyes were burning with rage as her nails pierced his skin, small trails of blood dripping from the small punctures. The pain to his neck did nothing to deter the wicked smile on his face.

"Why, why are you doing this?"

"At first I all I wanted was your knowledge but now, now I want to see how far I can push you, how far I bend your flexible body before you break and finally submit yourself to me." Her grip faltered slightly as his tongue licked up the side of her face, that was not the answer the Hyuga heiress was expecting. Before Orochimaru could take advantage of her loose grip, she tightened once more and knocked his feet out from under him and slammed him into the ground stemming small cracks at the impact.

"You kidnapped me, had me tortured, kidnapped my dad, and left me traumatized just to see how much I could handle, to try and get me to submit to you? Are you fucking kidding me!" Her tightly clenched fist slammed into his head eliciting nothing but a hiss-like laugh as blood trailed down from his lip. His tongue wrapped around her neck and threw her off, making her back hit a tree and knocking the breath out of her lungs. The snake's long tongue flicked out of his mouth and lapped up the blood his thoughts on how fun this was going to turn out. That fire in her eyes, he was going to crush it. Hinata pushed herself up and rushed towards him starting their clash, their chakra's baring down on one another as he dodged her flurry of attacks.

"Give me all you've got, I want to see how much you've grown since last time." The snake Sanin thrust his hands towards the blue haired girl and released the snakes from his palms forcing her to flip out of the way and pull out a kunai to slash the poison carrying serpents. The few snakes that impaled into the ground Hinata used as a bridge, running up the snakes before Orochimaru could draw them back to his body. She aimed a punch o his face and when he dodged to the left, her left leg came swinging up through his defenses and cracking his sternum on impact. Before one of his now shattered rips could pierce into his lungs, Orochimaru shed his skin, molting the layer like that of the snakes he uses. The new, seeming soulless body hung limp for a second as the slick slime from his mold dripped off of it until the bones cracked and seemed to snap into place. Orochimaru raised his head and that infuriating smirk was still plastered on his face. "Ahh I didn't think I would have to change so soon, you have grown well my pet."

"Fuck you." In yet another battle of brute strength and speed, it became clear that Orochimaru was outclassed and outmatched, Hinata's alternating use of her Olympic style and Hyuga style was too difficult to find a solid pattern in her attacks and had ended with Orochimaru shedding another body yet again when all of his chakra points were closed off and she all but ripped his arm out if its socket. The only other person Orochimaru had felt so overwhelmed by in close combat was Itachi, but as far as he knew, Orochimaru still had the upper hand in Jutsu's. The snake Sanin put some distance between the two of them, pinning Hinata down with a snake that came from behind giving him just enough time to complete the summoning jutsu to bring out Manda before Hinata ripped the snake apart with her bare hands uncaring of the blood that splattered against her face.

"Manda-sama, restrain that girl. Beat her just before death if you have to."

"Hah that puny brat is beating you, next time you call me for something so insignificant I'll eat you." Manda hissed out, baring his fangs toward his summoner. Orochimaru expected some kind of fear to be on Hinata's face when she saw Manda, even someone strong like her would struggle with a summon as strong as him. When he looked at her face she was smiling, grinning even as she eyed down the giant snake. She swiped the blood that was dripping from one of her wounds and her nimble hands moved into the familiar signs before slamming into the ground. Smoke billowed around her and when it dissipated there was a large reddish-golden lion whose fur was shining to the point of it looking like it was glowing in the bright sunlight.

Orochimaru blinked as he stared at the massive lion, he had never seen a lion summon before and was shocked that Hinata had managed a contract with arguably one of the strongest animals in existence. His yellow eyes were narrowd onto the two as Hinata bowed to the large creature, earning a bow in return. Orochimaru has never seen a summon behave so cordially to their 'master' they were always ornery and demanding compensation but Hinata and her summon seemed to have a mutual respect for one another.

"Thank you for showing up Muramasa-sama, I'm in a tight spot and would appreciate your help in smacking this asshole to his grave and can't do that if Manda is attacking me as well." Muramasa noticed the tenseness of her body and the blood flowing from her shoulder and he deduced that this was the man that Hinata had vowed to destroy when they had spoken for the first time. His large paw only slightly pressed up against the child hoping to give her some confidence and comfort. She leaned into his paw and ran her fingers through his silky fur waiting for his response.

"Of course Hinata-hime I'd be glad to fight on your behalf." Muramasa's glowing dark blue eyes looked over to the Snake duo, his eyes narrowing and he bared canines in warning as he spoke. "Manda-chan it's been a long time old friend. Has your body healed from last time we fought? It would be a shame to have to fight you if you are unable to perform to the best of your ability… not that it would matter much against a king like myself."

"I'll squeeze that arrogance out of you asshole." Manda raised his body and struck at Muramasa but was pushed away with a harsh swing of his paw. The impact of their attacks had wind forcefully pushing up against Hinata, whipping her long pinned back hair around and forcing her to apply chakra to her feet to stay planted to the ground. Muramasa noticed the young girls struggle and he placed one of his paws in front of her, instructing the Hyuga to hold onto him. Her fingers gripped into his fur and he let out a loud, ear splitting roar that was laced with wind chakra aimed directly at Manda who was guarding Orohcimaru. Hinata held on tighter to Muramasa's fur as she felt the ground beneath her rumble with the force of his roar. The force of the wind was so strong it sent the massive snake skidding backwards and Orochimaru flying through the air before hitting the ground, his body skipping like a stone over a lake.

"Hinata-hime go, I will move our fight away from here so you are able to fight this man alone, I will return to my home when finished here."

"Thank you, I promise to give you whatever you want when this is over." Muramasa's large sandpaper tongue gently licked up Hinata's bruised body in the same manner he does to his children, making her lips drop the frown and turn into a smile for the first time since he had arrived. "Be safe Muramasa-sama."

"You as well my child." With long strides Muramasa bounded off away from the humans, Manda following in annoyance as they prepared their battle. The Byakugan princess could hear their battle raging on but that didn't matter as her eyes were narrowed back onto her target. She could feel her ring pulsating: Itachi was going to arrive soon, Deidara was also on his way to her, Tobi and Kisame were heading back to the hideout, and Hidan and Kakuzu had sent nothing yet. She wanted to finish this before Itachi or Deidara would arrive, knowing Itachi he would step in when he saw the bloody and bruised form, she can't molt her skin like Orochimaru to make all the cuts disappear.

Orochimaru was up and ready to fight once again, his damn summon had left him but that didn't matter he still had the upper hand on distance combat and he was going to use it to the fullest. He knew his prize was skilled in water ninjutsu and could at least use a variation of lightning but he was able to use 3 elements to perfection and close to mastering a fourth, this girl was finally going to break beneath his foot. In swift succession, he sent earth and wind attacks towards the girl, when she dodged the spikes of earth the wind managed to push her into the air leaving her open for a fireball. Hinata saw the large ball of raging fire hurtling towards her as she fell from the air. There was no room to dodge or produce any water to protect herself so instead she threw her left leg around her body and used the momentum to angle herself so the fire burned into her side instead of hitting her entire body head on.

A pained yelp escaped her mouth as the fire burned through her shirt and a few layers of her skin, the smell of burning flesh found their way to her nose, making her gag slightly. She gripped tightly at the burnt skin and landed on the ground, her feet taking the brunt of the impact as she skid backwards on shaking legs. Orochimaru was only faring slightly better than the girl, he looked relatively unscathed but was down to his last few skins and his face was even paler than normal, the exhausted sweat glistening on his skin as he panted. Hinata stood up and released her hold on her side, straightening up gritting her teeth through the pain. Without wasting any more time, she sent a water serpent at the Snake man, having the creature grip him in its liquified jaws as she applied lightning chakra into the serpent, letting it shock him before he broke the jutsu. The normally straight inky black hair of the Sanin was staticky and frazzled from the electrification to his cells. His eyes wandered over the small form before him, hunched over in pain and moving more sluggish in exhaustion from the multiple jutsu used and the raging battle between them. He thought she was at her wit's end, the broken look in her eyes as she glared at him was invigorating.

The rogue slithered his way to her and her body straightened out, there was no way she was going to lose and if she exaggerated her exhaustion she'd be able to bring him once more into close quarters to crush his heart with her bare hands. She wanted to be close as the light left this eyes, she wanted to see his face lose that fucking smirk as he realized everything he had built is gone before his life ends. Orochimaru's neck stretched out, moving at incomparable speeds towards the girl, his fangs bared as he went to place a curse mark on her, one that would drive her weakened mind to submit to him, to become his pet, a perfect toy soldier to appease any of his desires. His lips curled back, his jaw unhinged as he was at her neck but right as his lips made contact with the supple skin of her neck, her fist came barreling into his jaw, releasing a mass amount of her chakra from a single point in her fist forcing his head to snap sideways and his body to follow the direction his head was sent from the extreme power of the impact. Orochimaru stood up slowly and pushed his jaw back into place, the smirk on his face was gone and his yellow orbs were narrowed staring deadly towards the disobedient little girl. He swiped a lanky finger over his tensed jaw and brought it up rubbing the crimson liquid between his thumb and index finger.

A low, angry chuckle rumble echoed through the shattered grounds as Hinata met the snake-like eyes of the angry Sanin. He was done playing nice, it was time to end this. He was going to disfigure her, Kabuto would put her back together and make sure she was still breathing. Hinata's heavily breathing body tensed as he laughed. She had never been so inexplicably terrified, all of the other times he smiled at her as she was the prey but now, he was staring at her with such anger and his aura was so menacing if she wasn't so filled with white hot, blinding rage she would have run for the hills.

"I have been giving you a chance to submit but you've been impertinent and now, I'm angry. Little girl, I'm going to bring you within an inch of your life and then maybe you'll understand how not amusing this has become." He hissed out as his blood lust bared down on the wide eyed princess. When he took a step forward, Hinata's shining lavender eyes narrowed once more and a sadistic smirk overtook her features.

"Run your mouth all you want because soon you wont be able to say anything. I think you know that cuz from over here it looks like you're scared of me, if the sweat of your face says anything, you're pushing your limit." Her words rang true and were spoken with such confidence it hid the tremble running through her body. They both knew this was it, one was finally going down and by the lack of sounds around them, their summons had finally finished their battle as well. Both ninja's charged at one another, fueling their attacks. Orochimaru's Sword of Kusanagi pushed its way out of his throat as the seemingly never ending sword weaved its way towards the bluenette as she sent chakra to a specific point in her body and activated her Byakugan and prepared for a fatal series of strikes.

Itachi and Jūgo could both feel the large surge of malicious chakras surround the area. The long haired Uchiha breathed a sigh in relief knowing Hinata was still alive but with the large influx of chakras he knew it was their final strikes towards one another so he pushed himself to go faster, he needed to get there to save her if need be. He made it onto the scene just in time to witness the Kusanagi sword pierce through Hinata's chest and blood to flow out of her mouth as she choked on the crimson fluid. His eyes evolved into the Mangekyo and he was ready to rip the head off of Orochimaru but before he could, a soft yet firm voice called out to him.

"No." His eyes met hers and instead of the light fading, they were burning with passion and victory. A large burst of her chakra filled the area, more chakra than Itachi had ever felt come from her before and at the center of her forehead a lilac purple diamond appeared before shifting and spreading around her body in intricate black designs. She wiped the blood from her lips and the bruises on her body faded, Orochimaru stared at her in shock, his entire being filling with rage and dread as he recognized the jutsu.

"No, you little brat, HOW!" She could feel her body overflowing with power, the chakra released fueling her every cell as her body mended itself and was basically pouring chakra out of her. It was unbelievable and completely amazing, she felt powerful, invincible. Hinata gripped onto the blade, her hands healing as fast as it was cutting into her palms as she pulled her body down the blade closer and closer to the Sanin. He retracted the blade and slashed at her throat, slitting it and letting the blood flow but as soon as it started, the wound sealed itself went for another attack but was too late her strength had increased exponentially and any damage he inflicted upon her was healed instantly. The jutsu would wear off at some point but his time was already up. Her hand gripped around his throat as they went tumbling to the ground the bloodied smirk never leaving her face. Her smirk turned into a full blown smile as she felt the chakra pulse from Hidan, he and Kakuzu had found and saved her father, there was nothing left for the Sanin to hold over her. In a hail Mary Orochimaru spoke out, "If you want to see your father again you won't kill me." In return the Hyuga heiress just laughed it seemed almost too innocent, the beautiful sound would have been music if she wasn't ready to rip his throat out.

"But that's where you're wrong, you see my father is safe. The whole time we've been together I've been having my little friends take down each one of your hideouts and thankfully Hidan found him so you have nothing over me anymore." She held tighter against his throat as her lips leaned down brushing against his ear. "So tell me, how does it feel now that I've taken everything you've spent your whole life building, all gone in an instant. My plan wasn't to just kill you, I've taken everything. Killed all of you're loyal followers and released your unwilling captives. In death everything down your reputation will be destroyed." His body fueled with his final attempt to kill the girl but her hand was plunged into his chest before he could react. Her fingers gripped around his heart and squeezed, feeling the muscle cease its pumping under the pressure and when she added her chakra, the entire thing overflowed with the interwoven chakra and burst, spraying blood out of the cavity. When she removed her hand it was dripping with the hot plasma and her eyes just stared at it before they rolled to the back of her head and she toppled over, only being saved from hitting the ground by Itachi catching her in his arms.

The black lines on her body receded back into forming the purple diamond with the limited chakra still flowing through her exhausted body. The Uchiha cradled the girl in his arms and the warmth emanating from his body woke her just enough to smell the unmistakable scent bringing a small smile to grace her blood smeared lips.

"Mmm I need to find Suiget-su." She breathed out struggling slightly.

"You foolish hime you need rest." He chided lightly, picking her up from the ground.

"He needs he-lp."

"Always thinking of others before yourself huh?" He smiled softly at the girl the harshness from his sharp features faded.

"You're o-one to talk." She tried to glare at him but once again it looked like a pout that made him poke her forehead softly. Itachi walked over to Jūgo who was conversing with the birds.

"Please take care of her while I handle Orochimaru." Carefully he shifted the girl into the large arms of the young teen before turning back to the dead man and working on sealing the body into a body seal. The ginger stared down at the girl in his arms as he carefully held her to not squish her. This was the girl that had him saved, that found a way for him to have freedom once more, the one to defeat the monster that was Orochimaru. Even when ready to succumb to sleep, she wanted to save another person first, Suigetsu that name was familiar to him. Her eyes blinked as they went in and out of focus trying to see the person holding her. When she was able to make out spiky orange locks she took her guess.

"Jūgo?"

"Yes, I thank you Hinata-hime for bringing Itachi-sama to me. I am in your debt for providing me freedom to live with the nature." He spoke with respect and honesty, gratitude overflowing at the girl resting in his large arms. He carefully pulled some of her burnt and ripped shirt around into a good resting place to save her modesty of the skin that was showing. The dried blood and dirt smeared on her face took away from her features but he could see the soft elegance of her princess-like face. He was slightly taken aback at how such a soft looking girl was able to defeat Orochimaru, she looked more suited for being a feudal lord's daughter or mistress than a stone cold ninja, it was hard to see her as the same girl that had just plunged her hand into a man's chest and all but ripped his heart out.

"I-I'm glad you're ok. P-Please save Suigetsu. I think I-I'm too sleepy now." Her voice trailed off as sleep finally took over to let her body rest and rejuvenate from the intense battle and extreme chakra loss. Itachi had walked back up to the taller boy and brought the knocked out girl back into his arms, his stoic face unchanging as he began his trek forward and into the final hideout. They moved through the rooms quick and efficient until they finally found the one they were looking for. Inside the stone walled room there was an array of empty tubes fit for bodies but there was only one that was plugged in and glowing with a greenish blue light. The only visible trait in the seemingly empty tube was a set of purple eyes staring at the new guests. The eyes bobbed up and down slightly, flashing in amusement as they took in the intruders.

"You know when _Lord_ Orochimaru finds you he's going to kill you, or have me kill you. I don't like serving him but if it means living I'd gladly cut you all apart, especially you Jūgo you psycho bastard."

"Lord Orochimaru is dead."

"Hahaha no way, that son of a bitch never dies…" He took one good look at the two and the knocked out girl before gaping in shock. "Wait you're not joking. Well damn, who is the idiot that fought him and won?" Both of the non-captured boys eyes turned towards the sleeping girl and Suigetsu finally got a good look at her. She was covered in dry blood and her clothing was shredded like she was in a battle but there were no wounds on her being, the only sight of a ton of blood was surrounding her hand. "The little cutie killed him? I don't believe it… wait is she that Hyuga girl that escaped?"

"Yes."

"Man Lord Orochimaru was pissed after that one, she even riled up Kabuto man I'm finally meeting the legend in person. I'm impressed that she came back and got her revenge, which brings me to why are you are all here?"

"Hinata-hime has requested of us to free you from your captivity and ask that you join the Akatsuki." Suigetsu opened his mouth to respond but Itachi could tell it was coming so he kept talking in his bored tone before letting Suigetsu speak. "She wanted me to tell you something about how you were wanting to collect all of the swords and if you teamed up with her, she would help you. After all, she knows 2 of the remaining 3 swordsmen." The younger Hozuki brother was in awe, this girl not only killed Orochimaru but she knew information about him that he sure as hell didn't tell her or anyone she would have spoken with. He moved at the beat of his own drum and was excited about the prospect of freedom but he wanted to meet the seemingly genius girl before he made his final decision. I mean he at least had enough respect to wait for the girl who is providing him his freedom to wake up before making his decision.

"Fine, get me out of here and I'll wait to talk to the cutie myself, I'm interested to see if she can get me the seven swords and I want ta know if she's as crazy as she sounds." The water moved and his sharp teeth became visible as he grinned like a cheshire cat. Jugo smashed the glass and Suigetsu's liquified body spilled out of the container, swirling around in the small makeshift pool until his cells were free of the chemical forcing them to separate and he reformed in all of his naked glory, only deciding to put his clothes on when Itachi sent him a shiver worthy glare. The new trio and a K.O'd Hinata left the hideout and walked to where Deidara was sitting on his bird, blue eye trailing over the newcomers until his vision landed on his best friend's sleeping figure wrapped in the Uchiha's cloak. He could make out the smeared blood on her face and the interesting looking diamond on her forehead but there seemed to be no visible injuries. He smirked and let out a pleased huff, the girl actually managed to take down the seeming immortal snake bastard and everything he owned in one fail swoop.

With ease Deidara hopped off the hovering clay Owl and his eye hardened into a glare at Itachi. Suigetsu sipped his water and watched the entertaining interaction a small distance back. Jūgo watched close to Itachi, sensing the hatred and jealousy off the blonde instantly and standing in ready to protect his new cage if deemed necessary.

"Hand her over Uchiha, I don't want her tainted anymore by your cursed, artless bloodline un. I'll fly her home faster than you can carry her, you can follow along like the bastard you are, yeah." Itachi did nothing but release a heavy sigh and cradle Hinata's body closer to his own. As much as he hated to admit it, Deidara was right and getting Hinata home and into a bed was priority so letting her go with the bomber was the best option. The unchanging stoic face of the Uchiha did nothing but spur the blonde's anger but he soon smirked as Itachi held out the limp form of the Hyuga, Deidara grabbing hold of her smaller from and sliding her onto his back. His feet firmly placed themselves back onto his owl and he took to the skies, smoothly flying home as he could feel the slow breathing of his friend as her head rested on his shoulder, her nose ever so slightly brushing his neck when she inhaled.

"Awe man, I wanted to fly to the hideout too."

I woke up seriously distorted. My entire body felt like I decided to drain body of bone and muscle and replace it with Jell-O, most likely the repercussions from using the cellular healing aspect of the seal. Even with the complete and utter lack of energy and muscle usage I could still feel my body flooding with the new reserves of power that I'd unlocked. My chest felt heavy with guilt from the ruthless massacre of Orochimaru and his followers but the feeling of happiness and freedom was more overwhelming than my guilt. I'd finally taken out Orochimaru and stopped his reign of terror, Jūgo and hopefully Suigetsu and Karin are also joining the team, and last but not least my dad is safe. The feeling of relief that entered my body when Hidan sent the signal he'd found and returned my dad to the leaf was bliss, happy tears pricked at my eyes knowing he was finally safe from my mistake.

All of the blood I remember being covered in was washed away and I could feel my hair laying out around me, it was no longer crusted with blood and out of the ponytail resting in its natural slightly wavy state. My previously shredded clothes were traded out for a large shirt and even laying down I could tell it went to just above my knees. It had to have been Kakuzu's or Kisame's, nobody else is large enough for a shirt this big. My entire body was screaming with exhaustion as I tried—and failed—to sit myself up against the bed. My eyes traveled around the room and at the edge of the bed was a silver head of hair. Hidan was sleeping sprawled out half on the bed and half on the chair, drool dripping out of his mouth as he mumbled incoherently.

"H-Hid-an." My voice croaked out from the lack of use but it was loud enough to wake up the surprisingly light sleeper. His magenta orbs opened and blinked a few times before focusing on me, he grinned and moved towards my side.

"Damn Hot Bitch for after three days of you being out, I thought you weren't gonna wake up. Man you really did a fucking number on the creepy snake bastard, putting a hole in his chest like that…ruthless. You were covered in blood, if you weren't passed the fuck out it woulda been so sexy." He smiled that sexy smirk of his as he praised me. The tears I had been holding back started to fall as I smiled, the brightest and most grateful one I could muster up. "Ah fuck stop crying. Why the-" I cut him off but using all of my energy to throw myself onto him, hugging him. Getting over the surprise of my affection that I'd never given him before, Hidan relished in it and wrapped his muscular arms around me, holding me at the waist.

"Thank you." I mumbled to him, he knew what I was talking about and grinned, lifting me up and sliding in besides me so I could hug him without too much energy. I lifted my head slightly and placed a kiss on his cheek, he smirked cockily but his cheeks turned slightly red as he gripped his Jashin pendant and mumbled something inaudible.

"No sweat. Lord Jashin was satisfied enough with my sacrifices that saving your old man was nothing."

"That's the most humble I've ever heard you." I smirked and he glared at me.

"Shut your damn mouth, I'm humble all the time!"

"Sure you are." I rolled my eyes and laughed slightly. Hidan reached behind him and pulled out a container of instant ramen, the same kind Naruto swears by. My stomach rumbled and I realized how hungry I really was. I tried moving my hands to grab the food but couldn't lift them enough to really do anything useful. Fuck. Hidan was bellowing with laughter.

"You're so fucking useless right now!" He cackled and grabbed the chopsticks to feed me the vegetable miso ramen, I glared in embarrassment. He was enjoying my weakness way too much. I opened my mouth to say something shitty back but he slapped his hand over it, magenta eyes still sparking in hilarity. I stuck my tongue out and ran it over his palm getting it super wet and then bit down. His face contorted into disgust and he pulled it away yelling.

"YOU SICK LITTLE FUCK! Don't lick peoples hands like that, thats so fucking disgusting." I giggled and stuck my tongue out, my body relaxing completely against him.

"Says the person who licks other peoples blood." I grumbled tiredly. "Just feed me." He shoved the ramen in my mouth, talking animatedly as I ate. His loud voice must have alerted whoever else was still here and the door creaked open Kakuzu's large form was the first one I noticed so I gathered up my strength to go to him but as soon as both of my feet touched the ground I started to sway and was ready to hit the floor but a large tanned hand had gripped the back of my shirt, lifting me up and dropping me unceremoniously onto the bed.

"Stop trying to move brat, conserve your energy so I don't have to help you anymore." I smiled as cheekily as I could, the so called partner murderer was helping me.

"I just wanted to thank you for saving my dad. Whatever reward you want, I'll find a way to get it." His red and green eyes bore into me as he thought of something, he was in a good mood probably from getting the bounty on Orochimaru.

"You're gonna count all the Akatsuki's money when I tell you to." His gruff voice said, I shrugged and agreed to it. It could have been worse, I'm surprised he didn't ask me for all my money though.

"Stop trying to corrupt her you greedy old fucker."

"Shut up or I'll kill you religious idiot." The door opened and a flash of orange entered before I was tackled down and smothered with hugs.

"Hinata-chan you're awake finally. Tobi was worried about Hinata-chan after she came home all bloody and had a weird purple thing on her face!" He rubbed his mask against my face as he talked excitedly. I pat his head like a child and giggled at his amusing rambling. "oh oH OH, Hinata-chan Tobi is a good boy and washed Hinata-chan's hair because Tobi remembers on missions how Hinata-chan always takes her hair down and dries for bed so it doesn't get tangled. Itachi-kun didn't let Tobi wash anything else though because it was _womanly parts._" I couldn't help the laugh from bubbling in my chest and was cracking up at him whispering into my ear thinking it was inappropriate. I should probably feel a bit more stressed about someone changing me but I trust Itachi with my life and know he wouldn't do anything bad, knowing him he probably did it with his eyes closed. As much as he scares me the fact that Tobi remembered that I always took my hair out and washed it before bed so it wouldn't get messy just proved to me that he was still a good person. It was something so small but it brought me so much warmth and happiness.

"You're a nice person Tobi-kun, thanks!" He placed his hands on his mask and squealed at the honorific. As much as I was enjoying talking to them, I was still drained and my eyes fluttered shut when I finally fell back asleep. My bed was still hot as Hidan and Tobi both were still in it with me but I was too tired to even care how hot it was. My dreams were plagued with the screams of all the blood on my hands and although I didn't know it Tobi and Hidan stayed and helped me sleep through the nightmares, letting me grab them tightly as I slept for two days. The hideout I was in was empty from teams other than Tobi and I so Konan had come to check on me when I was sleeping, I was a valuable asset and she was glad I seemed to be ok. No matter how cold Konan was, she didn't want someone as young as me to die from trying to protect my family. I had earned her respect as well as most of the other members even though a lot of them believed I was too soft hearted for the criminal life even after how many lives I had directly and indirectly taken.

The next time I woke up I felt so much better, my muscles no longer felt like they were nonexistent and the process of sitting up was marginally easier, that still didn't take away from how utterly exhausted I felt: both mentally and physically. My throat was burning slightly from misuse (or how much I screamed in the past week, I'll never understand how Naruto does it) and swallowing felt almost impossible. On the bedside table there was a water bottle, I wrapped my nimble fingers tightly around the plastic and brought it to my lips, the cool liquid coating my throat and soothing the dryness almost instantly. I breathed out a pleased sigh, slumping back into the wall behind me and realizing I have nothing to do.

I was sitting in the eerie silence for less than a minute when my mind started to go into the dark places, the heavy hand of guilt squeezing in my chest. To ease the pressure I did what every good ninja does and shoved it deeper into the already fucked corner of my mind and focused more on entertaining myself with the only training I could do in this pitiful state. My hands pressed into a seal and channeled my chakra flow into the water, merging my chakra with the faint, slow moving traces of chakra in the water from my bottle, having the clear liquid move its way out of the glass and make a sphere resting against my palm. In an instant I was entranced by the movement of the water, no matter how much control I had over the liquid it still flowed on its own path. Water was so free, so beautiful, so calming and yet it was still so powerful and vast; it was beautiful. The small strain of chakra I kept flooding into the water allowed me to mold the unpredictable liquid into whatever shape and form I wanted: small little lions that I could make run around my body, the best version of the Elder Wand I could muster, a heart that I had burst and reformed over and over again, and overall anything I could think of to try to shape. It was fun and took a lot of concentration, it was refining my chakra control even more.

The water was shaped into a small wolf that was moving around the room when the door opened and out of instinct, I barreled the water into whoever walked through the door and soaked them. Itachi's head peaked through the doorway, a scowl on his face as his now damp bangs stuck to his forehead as drops of water dripped down his features making a small puddle on the floor. His hand carefully ran through his now dripping hair and pushed the locks out of his face before coming to stand beside me, red eyes staring down into mine.

"Uh sorry about that?" It came out as a question as I chuckled at his slightly drowned rat look… even disheveled and dripping with water he was still hot though which is totally unfair like to every freaking person ever. Damn Uchiha genes.

"No.. you're not." He released a sigh but even with the slight annoyance I caused, his eyes betrayed him by shining with such love and happiness at my well being.

"You're right, I'm not sorry at all." I grinned at him and he held the smallest of smiles, almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye. I looked to the door as more people entered, it took me a second to recognize them (ya know not actually looking animated and stuff) but the large stature and orange hair gave Jūgo away especially now that I'm not practically fainting in his arms. The other figure was smaller but sipping on a bottle of water, his sharp teeth and icy hair were prominent features of…Suigetsu. My eyes went wide connecting with Itachi before looking back at them. They actually found him and he's here! I relaxed back into the wall once more and smiled at the two of them, feeling slightly bad when I realized the absence of Karin, that means Kisame 'took care' of her. "Hi Jūgo, nice to see you when I'm not tripping on exhaustion." He nodded, petting the small bird perched on his finger

"Hello Hinata-hime it is good to see you…well." I groaned at the name, feeling Itachi's amusement practically pouring from him even when he still looked stone cold.

"Please don't call me Hime, Hinata-chan or just Hinata works. 'tachi calls me Hime more so because it annoys me than because its proper." The orange haired teen nodded and I shifted my attention to Suigetsu who was still sipping his water, watching us talk. When I met his amethyst eyes he exposed his fang smirking at me unashamedly checking out my borderline scantily clad form. "Hey Suigetsu, I gotta say I'm pretty glad you decided to stick around at least until I woke up instead of going off on your sword hunt."

"Itachi-san made a good argument for me to stay, you know two of the living three swordsmen and hanging with you will make my job easier. Plus, I wanted to meet the person killed the annoying bitches Karin and Sakura and managed to piss off Kabuto so easily, four-eyes was such an annoying prick so watching him lose it was priceless." He grinned, shark teeth on full display. "Gotta say, I'm not disappointed cutie." He took another sip of water and pouted, whining, "awe man I'm out of water! Going to get more is so exhausting."

"I would give you the last of mine but…Tachi already took it all." Suigetsu laughed when Itachi's narrowed eyes on me, hair still dripping wet. Itachi glared at Suigetsu and the intensity of the Sharingan had him flinch back in the slightest before puffing his chest out once more. Jūgo and Suigetsu both took seats in my room and we were figuring out more about one another.

"So Hinata how did you kill Lord Orochimaru, I never thought he was going to die…the scary creep." Suigetsu's body shivered at the thought of his captor, Orochimaru was truly a scary mofo for all of us not blessed with Itachi level skills, which is basically everyone.

"He was weak, I wasn't fighting Orochimaru at his full strength or I might not have won, or at least had as little damage as I did. I could see his chakra flow being disrupted as it was rejecting the new body he was inhabiting so it made it a lot easier to kill him then it would have been… plus I was going to make sure he died even if I went with him." He kicked his feet up and put his hands behind his head, relaxing into the wall.

"Makes sense, you just got lucky then. Don't get a big head cuz of it, anybody could kill him if he's weak like that." He grinned teasingly, trying to rile me up while saving his pride for not being able to kill the person he feared.

"I'll punch a hole right through you water boy."

"Yeah yeah, so when are you going to help me get the swords? I've been itching to spar with Zabuza-sempai and show him his place." Suigetsu winked cheekily at me. "I'll be your ally until I collect them all, unless you want more from me; I'm always ready to please the ladies." He informed me of already meeting Pein and being offered a position on the Akatsuki. He's joining Tobi and I while Jūgo is joining Itachi and Kisame needing the Sharingan to stay calm. We discussed the sword to go for first and decided on finding Hiramekarei or Kiba one because I knew it was in the mist and the other because it is cool and currently inactive after the last user died, Suigetsu was going to have to defeat Zabuza and Kisame to get their swords. When I was finally able to move easily we went to the living room and let Jūgo make dinner in which Kisame and Tobi joined us for.

"Is that you little Suigetsu-chan? You've gotten big."

"Big enough that I'm going to kick your ass and take Samehada as my own." Kisame chuckled and turned towards me.

"I'm impressed that you succeeded small fry."

"Did you expect anything less Shark Boy?"

"Yes, I was expecting you to die." He put his large blue hand on my head and ruffled my hair.

"Well since I'm alive does that mean you'll finally train with me?" He smiled impishly at me.

"You've gotta keep up or I'll shred you."

"I can't wait." I was content and ate my food in happiness, if anyone will help my stamina it would be Kisame.

Later that night I entered into Itachi's dimly lit room and sat at the edge of his bed looking at him. He was extremely pale and coughing a wet cough that caused his face to scrunch up in pain.

"G-get out." He groaned through a wheeze. Itachi hates looking weak, he didn't want me or anyone else to see him falling so sick to his illness. Kisame only got to see it because they were together so often but even then Itachi played it off like everything was fine. His eyes were one thing but this, I don't know if I'll be able to heal him to keep him alive. It broke my heart, he's the strongest person I know and he was so fragile and I couldn't do anything about it.

"You're getting worse." Another fit of coughs racked through his body leaving him unable to respond. I placed my hand on the center of his chest and pushed him onto the bed so he'd stop sitting up. "Just-Just let me take the pain away for now. I'm going to find a way to heal you. I wont let you die, not yet." My hands glowed a faint green as I pushed my chakra into his body focusing on healing the shredded tissue of his lungs. I could feel his sickness pushing against my healing, it was in his bloodstream and just continually made him more and more sick. I focused on warming up my chakra so that it would bring the fever down and hopefully break it. I could feel Itachi's body relax more into his bed, the furrow of his brows finally released and he breathed a sigh, the pain being numbed down. When I healed as much as I could of the damage done by the toxin in his blood, I brought my hands up to his head and pressed slightly against each side of his temples. My hands glowed green once more and I focused intently on his eyes, healing the muscle strain done by his Sharingan. My eyes were closed as I healed so I didn't see the way Itachi studied me as I healed him.

His onyx eyes carefully looked over each feature of my face, being able to discern more and more details of my concentrated expression as his vision relaxed and started to clear once more. He smiled at how my tongue stuck out slightly in concentration and the way my nose scrunched as I used up my chakra, letting it mix with his as I forced it to heal every part of him I could. The heavy pressure on his chest lifted as he could breathe once more and the raging headache from his deteriorating eyes was fading into a dull thrum. When finished with everything I could do I got up and entered his closet, grabbing the loosest shirt of his I could find and a wet cloth. Itachi's hair was plastered to his face and his shirt was sticking to his skin from the sweat, his tired eyes were watching me move around until I came back to his side.

"Hinata-hime don't take care of me. This is what I deserve." I didn't respond and instead sent him a glare that conveyed all of my anger at the little care he has for his own well being. He tries to take care of everything for everyone else no matter the burden, it time to let someone else do that for him.

"Raise your arms." He did so dutifully and I pulled the damp shirt off of him. His pale skin was glistening with sweat and I took the wet rag, carefully rubbing the warm cloth against his chest. My fingers brushed against his chest and he shivered slightly, muscles contracting then easing into my touch. When all the fever sweat was gone, he put the shirt on and slid back down the wall, resting his head on the pillow. I used a cool rag this time to wash his face and let the towel lay on his forehead to help cool him down. I pulled the holder out of his hair, letting the silky dark locks free and brushed through it like Sasuke used to do for the both of us. His eyes fluttered shut and his breathing slowed to a steady rhythm. I pulled the covers up and slid in beside him, his body was hot but he needed as much warmth as possible to try to break the fever and I wanted a nightmare-less night.

"Good night." He whispered, poking my forehead softly before wrapping his arm around me and I nuzzled into his side, listening to his heart beat. It was comforting, a reminder of when he, Sasuke ,and I all used to have sleepovers and each of us would share a side of Itachi.

"Night." I mumbled, feeling myself relax into slumber, thinking of happy memories.


	20. Isobu

I woke up in the lightest hours of the morning and went to grab a glass of water when I heard the deep rumble of an unfamiliar voice speaking. Against any better judgement I have, I moved to where the voices were coming from and stayed out of sight, resting against the outside of the doorway so I could hear what was being said when all talking abruptly ceased. _Fuck I'm screwed._

"Show yourself." The low commanding tenor of Pain's voice practically boomed practically boomed, this dude sure knows how to scare the living shit out of people. I pulled the collar of Shisui's shirt away from my face, the extra fabric now feeling suffocating, I really don't feel like getting my ass pushed through the wall for pissing off someone with a Rinnegan and little to no patience for disrespect. I took a step, then another and stood in the doorway plastering an I-wasn't-doing-anything look on my face (which if I'm being honest probably looked like a grimace) and did the smallest bow.

"Oh Hi Leader-Sama! Didn't see you there, uhh, how's it going?" Pain's purple eyes bore into my body, looking less than amused with my greeting.

"What did you hear?" He demanded, keeping my attention from being able to look towards Konan or Tobi. I'd put together what was going on by the three in the room but still have no clue on what they were saying, at least I wont be lying.

"Nothing, I heard voices talking and wondered who was there since Suigetsu is still asleep and I thought Tobi and I were the only ones at this hideout. I guess not." Everyone in the room stared me down, scrutinizing me to see if I was lying or not. When Tobi deemed me as telling the truth and he jumped up and began clinging onto my side happily like the (fake) man-child he is.

"Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan! Leader-sama came to visit Tobi! Tobi was about to learn our next mission!"

"Wow Tobi-kun, you must be special to get Leader-sama to visit you." I pat his spiky black locks as he hummed happily.

"Konan-san."

"Yes Pein-sama?" She replied monotonously from his side.

"Take Hinata-san and keep her out of the hideout for now. I have _business _to attend to."

"Oh Oh Oh Hinata-chan before you leave, Tobi thinks you should get new clothes. Deidara-sempai said he's going to ruin yours if you keep wearing Uchiha clothes. Plus Tobi thinks Hinata-chan would look soooo cute in a girly outfit, like a princess!"

"Is that so… That asshole, I'm going to shove a bomb so far up his-"

"Hinata-san, follow me. Now."

"Oh sure Konan!" I followed the tall blue haired woman out of the room, her presence just commanded me to listen to her, she just had that aura, it reminded me of my mom slightly. It's actually perfect I've been wanting to talk to her. She's sooo cool and I feel like I need a female in my life. There's only so much I can handle of only boys all the time. I fiddled with my fingers, there were few people who could make me nervous but Konan just did. "Uhm Konan?" My cheeks flushed as I was completely and utterly embarrassed about asking her to take me shopping. Man what the hell is wrong with me, I fiddled more as her eyes looked down on me, a blue brow raised in waiting. "Since we're the only girls in the group and I am not all that good with the whole girl stuff since my sister and friend Ino were always the one who helped me once my mom died, and you kinda remind me of my mom, and you look so pretty and put together can you please help me find an outfit to wear?" I rambled out so fast I didn't think she would understand me but then I looked back to her and was at a loss. Her usually completely stone cold face had the most faint of smiles on it. Her amber eyes were also warmer than usual but within a second she composed herself once again.

"Yes, I will help you." Paper swirled around the both of us and I could feel my stomach flop as the breath was squeezed out of me and it felt as though my entire body was scrambled up before being dropped into the center of the rainy village with a makeshift umbrella over my head. I gagged and wheezed keeling over on the ground while Konan stood next to me unfazed by the travel.

"I can't decide if that was the coolest thing ever or the worst. Oh man, I feel like a scrambled egg." I rubbed my temples and took in a few deep breaths before standing up and brushing the mud off my hands and onto my baggy pants. The air smelled like spring, that scent of the rain hitting against the rock and metal was one I haven't smelled in forever but it gave me a sense of comfort. I was practically bouncing with excitement, I need new clothes so that I don't have to tie my pants with ninja wire and fold the bottoms up so I can actually walk with them on and not trip over the extra fabric. Even the comforting smell of Shisui has worn off all the clothes so there is really no reason to keep wearing them, especially when they don't help me in any shape or form other than from being naked. "Where to Konan?"

"This way." I followed her long strides and it was so obvious on how much of a goddess the people of the village see her. Whenever she passed by someone young or old they would stop and bow to her, whispering in giddy excitement about how she's the "Angel." Konan held her head high but I could see the flicker of care she has for the people of her village. When a little girl was crying on the street she took the time to make a paper crane that was infused with chakra and could fly around the girl and make her giggle in that child-like innocence. The elegance Konan walked with and how no matter how cold she seemed she was still a kind and loving woman at heart reminded me so much of my mom my chest was constricting with a mix of happiness and pain. My mom was like that wen we'd walk around the compound. She was forced to keep this cold and calm exterior as the wife of the stoic clan leader but there were moments when her compassion leaked through and she would just take care of anyone and everyone. When we were home alone she was strict and yet the kindest and most loving mother I could have asked for. I haven't felt that motherly feel since my mom and then Mikoto died.

A butterfly landed on my nose and flapped its paper wings, the water flicking off and on my cheeks to break me out of my stupor. Konan had stopped in front of a small fabric store but her eyes were on me, analyzing my every movement. The butterfly circled my head for a bit before shredding itself and falling over me like confetti. My hands caught the paper before it finally disappeared.

"Why do you look like that?" She asked me, her eyes narrowing onto my face.

"Like what?" I furrowed my brows in confusion, I feel like I look the same as always.

"You have a sad smile on your face, one of someone who has known loss."

"Oh it's just. Well, the way you interact with your village reminds me of how my Okaa-san used to be."

"Used to be?"  
"Yeah, when I was 5, something went wrong with my Okaa-san's pregnancy and she…she didn't make it." Konan's sharp features softened slightly and I could see the turmoil rolling around inside her. With a hesitant and stiff movement, Konan put her hand on my shoulder.

"I am sorry you have had to deal with that, no child should lose their mother so young. However, your pain is what makes you an asset to the goals of the Akatsuki. Pain-sama and I both were orphaned during the Third Shinobi War and we decided that we were going to create a world where children never have to lose their families to war by destroying the Shinobi world as it stands and rebuilding it into one of peace." I had to bite my tongue to not speak out. I agree that the world is in turmoil and peace needs to be reached but by causing everyone so much pain and destroying everything is the exact opposite of the way to peace. Oppression can cause peace for only so long… case and point: Hitler. He kept peace in Germany for some time but through oppression and until it reached a boiling point then boom, a world war. I don't have the talk-no-jutsu like Naruto but I have to do something to change the outcome of everything. I don't want anyone else to die. The guilt of the lives I've taken is already crushing, I don't need the guild of knowing people were going to die and then not doing anything to save them.

"I guess that gives me a better understanding of what the true goals of the Akatsuki are for. I agree, the world is falling apart and I want the generations after me to not have to worry about the threat of a war. I want a peaceful world to live in."

"You are wise beyond your years, much like Itachi-san was when he joined. Yet your personality reminds me of a friend I once knew, you are just more willing to do what needs to be done."

"Oh uh, yeah. Thanks I think."

"Now let us go, I will aid you in finding more suitable clothing for a Kunoichi your age." Konan pushed open the door and right as we stepped inside, the paper umbrella dispersed and attached itself back to her body. A small golden bell chimed alerting the vender of our arrival and a man pushing his 60's made his way to us. When he saw Konan, tears gathered in his eyes and he bowed low enough to press his forehead to the ground.

"It is truly an honor to have you return to my humble shop Angel-sama. Anything you please is on me today, I would not still be in operation if you had not shown up and removed the heavy taxations upon my store. You saved me and my families livelihood so the least I can do is provide you with anything you require." He stood back up to his full lanky height and smiled a nice grandfatherly smile.

"I appreciate the sentiment Suzuru-san but I will not take anything from you, I will pay for whatever materials we end up using."  
"You truly are an angel! For that, I will customize whatever you need to be perfect in every way. What is it that you need from me?"

"My subordinate needs attire better suited towards a kunoichi like herself." Suzuru turned his azure eyes towards me and moved his glasses down the bride of his nose to get a better look.

"Awee you're so adorable! It's such a shame you hide yourself in such a monstrosity, it's a miracle you can fight in such oversized clothing. It was the best decision to bring you to me, I'm the best designer for ninja and civilians alike. I will make you something durable and fashionable. Who do you think designed the clouds on the Akatsuki cloaks?" He pushd me towards a dressing room and began asking me questions while he took measurements of everything. He asked about what my dominant hand and foot were, what type of combatant I am, what my clan symbol looks like, my clan color scheme, my favorite colors, my personality type, and much more before running off and coming back a minute later with bundles of fabric. He held them up to my face and skin, testing the coloring and then let me feel the materials as well. "Now darling, you wait here while I create your perfect look. You are such a wonderful canvas, finally I get someone who is not as dreary as this rainy village."

Suzuru came back some time later and told me to close my eyes while he directed me in putting on the clothes. When everything was on and he fitted the last bits and pieces I was able to open my eyes and my jaw dropped open at the perfection that he created for me. I had a thick metal wiring fishnet top that the sleeve only ran down my right arm but instead of the super heavy and hard to move in protection that it usually has, it was soft like silk and was light and breathable, allowing me to move easily. My left elbow also had a fishnet band for protection when I attack and guard as well as my right leg up to my thigh. Overtop the fishnet I had a custom shirt that wrapped around my chest tightly, holding everything into place with white bandage lined with red that was sewn together perfectly fitting against my body. Just below my chest, there was a thick band of black that had reinforced plating for defense and then just above my belly button where the shirt ended, was another bandaged cloth like material with my clan symbol right in the center, the flexible metal plating as another layer of protection from regular kunai and shuriken.

For bottoms, I had on black undershorts and then a black skirt made of some type of soft, light leathery cloth and was asymmetrical at the waistband where red ties held it on my hips, leaving a slight peak of the fishnet. The skirt itself was comfortable and allowed me room for all range of motion as well as it having flexible metal plates of red patterns connected throughout. I tied my thigh holster on my bare skin and attached my weapons and medical pouch to the side. My shoes were close toed ninja sandals in a color that was only slightly darker than my eye color, it fit with the pale colors of the Hyuga so I still had a bit of my home with me. They had the slightest heel on the back for traction and an increase in the pain of a direct kick. The entire outfit was very protective yet easy to move in, perfect for a close combat fighter, not only that, it makes me look badass with the coloring and style.

"This is. Wholly fuck this is AMAZING! The fit, color, style. Everything is perfect."

"Of course it is, thats my job and with the help of our Angel-sama I was able to sew it faster. Not only that, since you're a water user the fabric is water resistant and water will not weigh the clothing down when you get wet." He smiled kindly, the crinkles in his eyes becoming more prominent as he admired his work.

"I've never felt like a baller more in my life." He quirked a brow at my statement but dismissed it.

"I am very happy I could meet your standards. Now lets us show the Angel-sama and get her approval." We walked out of the fitting room where Konan was running her hand over the fabrics and she stopped and looked me up and down before nodding in approval.

"It is exceptional work as always Suzuru-san. However, you are missing one thing Hinata-san. Come." I stood in front of her as she analyzed me. "Turn around." When I was turned around, I felt her nimble fingers moving through my hair skillfully pulling bits and pieces up. The sound of paper ruffled in my ears and then I was turned back around to look in a mirror. Some of my hair was pulled back and the band holding it together had a paper butterfly on it. The way Konan did my hair, the gentleness of her fingers and the use of unnecessary accessories to make it pretty was so like my mother, if I didn't know any better it was like my mother had raised Konan as well, teaching her all the things I was never good at. She nodded simply at her work and before we could pay I jumped into her, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you Konan-nee, It's been a long time since someone has done my hair like my mom used to do." The nickname slipped out, she just made me feel like this is what a big sister is like. When I get home, I need to be there for Hanabi more, I left her and this is just a reminder of what I'm trying to protect and what I'm going to work to get home to. I watched to gage her reaction. She didn't walk away or tell me not to do that since we're not family. Instead she smiled, it was small but it was there and she softly patted on my back while her other hand rested carefully on my head.

"You are welcome. Before we depart, let us get some food. We will grab some for Pein-sama as well." I smiled brightly and nodded, a skip in my step as we paid and went to get lunch for us, Pein, Tobi, and Suigetsu.

—

_Special: How the Akatsuki reacts to Hinata's new clothing cuz it's fucking awesome_

**_Tobi:_** When we returned to the hideout Tobi bounded up to me like an excited puppy waiting for their owner to come home.

"Ohh Hinata-chan Tobi thinks you look so pretty. Like a real girl, Hinata-chan is even prettier than Deidara-sempai now." I laughed happily as he poked and prodded at my clothes, I could just Imagine the sparkles floating from him

"Don't let him hear you say that."

"Nononono please don't tell Deidara-sempai what Tobi said! Tobi want's Deidara-sempai to love Tobi."

**_Suigetsu: _**I went to get Suigetsu from sitting outside in the rain so he would eat and when he turned around, a sharp toothed smirk crossed his features and his lilac eyes glimmered.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes. When you look like that, I can see why Orochimaru-sama died by your hand. I don't think I'd be able to kill a cutie like you either." He looked to the yogurt in my hand and grinned, putting his body back together from swimming in his self made pool and popping up right in front of me. "And you brought me my favorite food? You rock my world."

"Just eat your yogurt water boy." I sat beside him, in the shade of a tree as he ate, tilting his head back enjoying the rain hitting his skin.

**_Hidan: _**I was resting after a mission and Hidan ended up coming to this hideout and when he saw me his eyes went wide before that stupid wild grin was on his face and he rushed over, gripping me in once of his large arms and pulling me close. His free hand gripped around his Jashin pendant and he tilted his head back letting out a cackle.

"This is the fucking greatest day of my life. Thank you Jashin-sama for being the greatest god and providing me with such a sexy-ass hot bitch."

"Yeah Yeah, get off." I rolled my eyes but was smiling at his way too overdramatic behavior.

"Mmm this is way better than that goddamned Uchiha shit you were wearing."

**_Kakuzu:_** Kakuzu saw my new clothes and did a double take.

"How much did this cost."

"Almost nothing, the designer was in debt to Konan-nee." He looked me over once more and huffed.

"Fine then it is an acceptable use of the Akatsuki budget, don't expect anymore clothing anytime soon _girl._"

"I wouldn't _dare_ think to use your precious money for my personal needs. It wasn't like I was wearing clothes that made it harder to fight which was causing more training damage that we needed to pay for or anything." I huffed, the sarcasm dripping from my tone.

"It's not my fault you're a tiny little brat."

"You're massive, that's not even a fair comparison!"

**_Deidara:_** Deidara, Sasori, Tobi, Suigetsu, and I were on a joint mission and when Deidara finally saw me his face broke out into the widest of grins.

"Finally you got rid of those damned Uchiha clothes un. I was getting so close to blowing them all up, hmm. Although, I'm really going to miss watching you fall flat on your ass when the wiring comes undone, un.""Yeah I know you asshole. Tobi warned me before the mission."

"I'm going to kill him, yeah? He ruined my fun, that angry face you make when something happens would have been priceless. A fleeting moment of pure anger, its art hmm." He looked thoughtful for a second before licking his lips. "Huh, at least now you look like a girl, you could even pass for cute, yeah." My eyes narrowed as he laughed at me, enjoying his time trying to piss me off.

**_Sasori: _**I walked into Sasori's room to ask him for help when his blank chocolate eyes looked up from his puppet to me. He huffed deeply in annoyance and turned back to the human corpse and focused on adding in a new weapon.

"What do you want brat?"

"I need your help creating something." That got his attention and he stopped tinkering for a second to look at me, his eyes still as bored as ever. "I want to build something that can syphon off electricity and distribute it out at a different time in a way more efficient than a seal and without the use of chakra like a jutsu." We went over the perameters and Sasori helped create the initial blueprints and when I wen't to leave for the night he got in the last words.

"Your new clothing suits you better. You actually look like someone worth turning into one of my masterpieces now." I smiled back at him happily, making him scoff and turn away.

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment."

**_Itachi: _**I was waiting in a hideout for Itachi. Kisame had notified me where they were and as soon as Tobi, Suigetsu, and I finished our mission I jetted to this hideout to wait. Itachi's sickness and low chakra levels are making his eyes deteriorate faster and faster each day and after this mission there is no doubt that he is really feeling it. As soon as he entered the hideout, I could tell he was in pain. He was paler than usual and his jaw was clenched tightly. I dragged him into his room and shrugged off my cloak then took his off to cool him down. He laid on his bed and I got to work trying to heal the pain of his vision and doing my best to slow down the rate his blood cells are attacking one another.

"Your new clothes are nice. They are more optimal for movement but I'll confess. I thought you wearing Shisui-kun's clothes was cute. It reminded me of when Sasuke-kun would steal my stuff and wear it."

"Yeah, man I can't believe how long ago that feels."

"Ah yes Hinata-hime it sometimes feels like an eternity ago. Back then you were just a wild little girl. But now, look at you, you've gone and grown up a bit. I can't even imagine how my foolish little brother has grown."

"Me either."

**_Kisame: _**"Wow kid you finally look like a real kunoichi, not some little girl playing dress up in her daddy's clothes." I turned around at the familiar teasing lilt and grinned at the massive blue skinned shark-man.

"Sharky-sempai, you're finally here! Come on, please train me."

"Well since you finally look like a woman… I can up the training today. If you can't keep up~" he smiled devilishly as he gripped Samehada, "you die."

"Big threats from someone who only managed to drain my chakra last time. I'll believe you when you actually hit me."

"Hmm, I'm not the one asking for you to train them am I kid."

"Touché. I do have to say, with your help the amount of water I can control has almost doubled with your _scary _training. I see where Zabuza-sempai got it from."

**_Jūgo: _**Jūgo was sitting outside peacefully as the birds and animals flocked to him. He reminds me of a Disney Princess every time I see him and how with just a smile the animals are his best friends. He let out a little whistle and a small blue bird landed on his shoulder making the large orange haired boy smile softly as they chatted in their own tongue. I had a plate of small river fish salted and cooked in the fire instead of the chicken Itachi had made me earlier. Jūgo hates eating birds so I got him his own food as he stayed outside bathing in the forest.

"Hey Jūgo I made you some food!"

"Oh yes hello Hinata-hime. Thank you, I appreciate you taking the effort to make me separate food."

"Yeah of course! It's thanks for you helping me out with everything so much." His orange eyes were soft and bright with contentment as he enjoyed the nature. "It's really beautiful out here, do you mind if I stay with you in the quiet for a bit?"

"Not in the slightest, I would appreciate the company." He looked over me for a second and then turned back to the sunset hues of the sky. "Your new attire is very beautiful. The birds say they like the patterns as well. You look like a flower."

The mission Tobi, Suigetsu, and I were given was to find the three tails and capture it. I was more than glad to receive this mission because Isobu is the only tailed beast that is not sealed within a host for the moment. The amount of lives I've taken recently has been plaguing my mind deeply so as the emotionally healthy person I am, I used what was taught to me by basically anyone ever and shoved the guilt, the pain, everything so deep down I was numb. I didn't have time to worry about my own pathetic issues when there was bigger problems for everyone else. The entire journey to the large lake that Isobu resides in was dreary. The whole week we had been traveling the sky has been dark and cloudy, Suigetsu has non-stop complained about taking breaks, we've been traveling by foot, and Tobi has continuously been rambling on about nothing while clinging to me like a Koala.

I was exhausted, especially since this was a mission that went back to back without previous one of getting Suigetsu one of the seven swords, Kiba, the thin lightning rod swords. He wanted Hiramekarei but that was too heavily guarded in the Mist village, somewhere I'd gladly not provoke, and so we stuck with finding the burial grounds of Ameyuri Ringo. Her burial ground was on the outskirts of the mist and we only had to fight off a few Chunin guards. The mist Chunin were extremely ruthless though and Tobi still being Tobi was completely useless which put more effort on Suigetsu and I. It was pretty exhausting and we also had to escape the village without being caught, fun but tiring and then we had no rest time.

"Hinata-chan Tobi wants to know the plan for when we find the big turtle monster." He swayed, rocking back and forth on his heels as he hummed a tune.

"I thought you were in charge of the plan. Leader-sama talked to you about this not me."

"Nope, Leader-sama only told Tobi the mission. Hinata-chan is Tobi's team leader so Hinata-chan makes the plan." He was smug, so damn smug I could feel it.

"Well for my first order as leader, Suigetsu you're now team captain."

"Right on! First things first we're taking a break. Man I'm exhausted, lets go to a bath house!"

"Nope nope nope, Sorry Suigetsu-kun but Leader-sama said Hinata-chan is mission leader. Tobi also thinks Suigetsu-kun is too lazy to be a good team leader. All he does is slice things!" Tobi giggled and hid behind me just out of Suigetsu's reach. He was pretty annoyed and looked ready to strike Tobi down with a burst of lightning. "Hinata-chan is team leader and she'll make sure Tobi's mission is a success or Leader-sama will be _very _mad. He's scary when man, eep it is scary to even imagine it, Hinata-chan protect Tobi!" The happy oblivious way he spoke and insulted people was fun but like always, the hidden threats he put in his words were even more apparent. Sometimes he was so overwhelming in presence it felt like it was crushing down on me.

"Stop clinging onto her like some man-child. Is this dude really part of the Akatsuki?"

"Yeah and he'd kick your ass if he wanted to so I'd back off." I smiled at the statement, it was true but it seemed more like I was hyping up a child when I gave a pat to Tobi's head.

"Yeah Hinata-chan is right. Tobi is the strongest in the Akatsuki. I mean other than Deidara-sempai, he's the coolest!" Tobi gushed, making different poses to show off his hidden muscles.

"Don't feed his delusions!" Suigetsu slumped against a tree and took a long sip of water. "I'm beat can we please take a break?"

"Yeah, this spot is good and we dan rest here for the night too. My feet are killing me." I pulled the sleeping bag out of the backpack I had on and laid it out. Suigetsu did the same as well as Tobi. We collected some firewood and got it started, it's really inconvenient when you have people who cant use fire jutsu and Tobi who basically pretended like he has no abilities other than his uncanny skill of never dying. Once We had enough dry firewood, it took me three matches to even get anything to spark. Once the spark ignited, it erupted into a brilliant golden flame and the head engulfed my body, combining with the cloak there was no way I was going to be cold during the chill night.

"Hey Suigetsu?" I questioned, staring up at the constellations in the night sky. It always amazed me at seeing the stars so brightly, I guess when there is no pollution fogging up the airways across the globe the stars are truly beautiful. Looking up to them made me feel as though I was small, it was a good feeling. Realizing how small I am sometimes takes the pressure off of me, realizing that not everything I do is as big as it seems sometimes, that the whole world isn't truly weighing on my shoulders.

"Whats up?"

"Tell me about your life before you were taken by Orochimaru." Suigetsu sat up and hummed, musing about what he was going to tell me.

"I grew up in the mist, my parents were part of the executions of those with Kekkei Genkai so they hid away as civilians where my other brother Mangetsu-nii was born. It was blazingly obvious he was a prodigy and instead of killing him off in fear, the Mizukage trained my brother as a weapon where he learned and mastered all seven of the swords. When I was born, they expected the same from me and I began training under Mangetsu-nii to master the swords like him. I was under constant watch and scrutiny because those crappy ass shinobi were afraid I'd lose it and kill them all with my Kekkei Genkai so when they killed Mangetsu-nii I was so willing to join Orochimaru-sama. Can't say even a genius like me doesn't make bad decisions once and awhile."

Tobi let out a giggle in his sleep (well at least I think he's sleep I never know), murmuring about Dango.

"Sounds like your village is as fucked up as the rest of them, can you tell me more about Mangetsu? He seems like he's the one who shaped your goal of collecting all the swords. I mean he is kind of a legend." I moved from looking at the sky to facing Suigetsu, the fire flickered in his lilac eyes his normally white hair was reflecting the orange of the fire much like it reflects the blue of the sky during the day. He smirked, his sharp fang exposed like always.

"Yeah, my big brother really was the coolest. I remember when I first picked up a sword, I sliced right through my hand and freaked out when I started bleeding. I thought that my body would just naturally turn to water, not that I had to actually learn to do it. That day he spent hours teaching me how to liquify myself and every cut I had he helped patch up for me. He was always so protective of me and then one day he let me go on a mission with him, he was ruthless. He cut people in ways I didn't know was possible, it was amazing. He taught me how to torture and slice people in ways nobody else can, I became a master. My goal is to surpass him, its what he taught me for so I have to collect the swords to prove that I'm finally better than him."

"You have the most healthy relationship with your older sibling of anyone I've ever met, and he taught you how to murder people with swords." I let out a light laugh, thoroughly entertained by the sibling dynamics of basically everyone I know. Suigetsu grinned sharply, and laughed amused. We talked and joked as he told me jokes and more about his childhood, Zabuza was an even bigger prick then than he is now add that to puberty and boom.

"So what about you little miss killer of a Sanin. You don't really seem dark and broody enough to have joined assholes like the Akatsuki so how did all that come to happen?"

"I met Orochimaru when I took the Chunin exams and he attacked my team to give Sasuke his heaven curse mark and inhabit his body so all three of us had to fight him and I managed to piss him off greatly. Then he invaded my village and I ended up getting Kabuto's leg cut off so that got that bastards attention on me or whatever. After I became a Jounin I was in charge of leading a mission and everything went to shit so I made my comrade turn back while I finished off the mission leaving me extremely vulnerable. I was captured by Orochimaru and for a month or so he let Kabuto and Sakura torture me until my dad came and switched his place for mine. So then since the Hokage wouldn't let me go on a suicide mission, I went rogue to kill Orochimaru and bring my father back home. Killing the sound 4 got the attention of Kakuzu and Hidan as well as me pissing off Sasori a while back so I joined the Akatsuki and now I'm here."

"Wait you're the girl the annoying brat Sakura-san hated. Oh my god that's priceless, no wonder I don't want to kill you, girls are usually so annoying."

"Way to just blanked the entire species under the contact of what, the three girls you've spoken to in your life!" His face twisted into one of fake offense and I laughed happily.

"Hey! I have not only talked to three girls. I'm a ladies man through and through." He smirked proudly and I shoved him over.

"I know a ladies man and you aren't it. Tobi-kun could pull more ladies than you." **(a/n: Hinata only uses honorifics for certain people who she thinks need it more. Like how she did it with Naruto as a kid so he felt more loved and respected, she does it with tobi because he has that child persona she has to play along with etc. A lot of people she's close to she doesn't use kun or chan because they know she cares for them without it).**

Until Suigetsu fell asleep, we continued talking about our childhood and like I thought, he wanted to meet Sasuke so bad. Mainly to and I quote "show the pretty boy what a real Shinobi looks like" but it was fun and even though Suigetsu was a bit on the gory side he was extremely enjoyable to be around. Especially when he'd go on tangents on people he didn't like or his super dorky fear of Orochimaru. I fell asleep in the early morning when Tobi woke up to keep watch. The bubbly Uchiha woke us up mid morning and we set out to capture Isobu, we didn't have Deidara's bombs but with a bit of planning between the three of us we hopefully had a solid strategy to take down the tailed beast. Not that I actually had anything to compare the strength of the three tails to but hopefully we had a plan strong enough to succeed. It's pretty helpful that Isobu is supposed to be the kindest of the tailed beasts and just wants to live alone so he shouldn't put up a fight like say Kuruma would.

"Tobi-kun you take the left, I'll take the right, Suigetsu take the center when you find a massive flux of chakra alert the others." You all sped off, running over the water until in position. I sat down on the slightly wavy surface of the water, drowning out the sounds and feelings around me as I activated my Byakugan and searched the impossibly deep water, letting my chakra seep in as well to pick up anything I might possibly miss. There was nothing but the small chakra of fish until I pushed deeper and deeper, and saw it, through a sort of genjutsu I couldn't figure out, there was the glimmer of silver chakra that moved just irregularly enough to be something else. I sent my notice to Tobi and Suigetsu and they came rushing over from the across the large surface of water.

"Oh oh good job Hinata-chan, Tobi knew you could do it!" We stood in a triangle over where I assumed Isobu to be and began molding chakra.

"Lets catch this beast and go get some yogurt."

"Suigetsu your control over water is almost flawless so just do your best to disrupt the water enough to force him to the surface. I got a look at calling Isobu a him but he got to work, letting his body disperse into the water and start to take hold of it. "Tobi-kun just follow my lead. I need you to add as much of your chakra into the water, just let it meld with the water and then start making it move and swirl like a tornado. You can do it, I believe in you." _I believe in the fact that you're the strongest Shinobi alive currently and can easily manage this simple task. _

"Tobi will do his best!" I let my chakra that has been seeping into the water meld with it and focused on causing the water to spin like a whirlpool around Suigetsu and Tobi's, pushing it deeper and deeper until it reached the bottom and the spinning was ferocious enough we all started spinning with it. The wind was whipping around us and water was harshly hitting against my skin. There was a loud roar and then a massive influx of chakra came crashing over us, like the pressure of a wave crashing down. The genjutsu surrounding Isobu was broken and I could see the large size and immense, dangerous chakra flowing through him. He was swimming towards the surface rapidly.

"Fuck, he's coming and fast, be ready Suigetsu shift and start gathering up lightning. Tobi-kun keep doing what you're doing and be ready to move off the water when I say." I shouted over the crashing waves. Isobu hit the surface and let out a roar, his red eye open and staring at me. Water was dripping from his grey metallic looking shell and his large spiny tails were thrashing around wildly. He let out an ear piercing roar. "Tobi-kun go to the back but don't let up and don't get hit." I stared Isobu in his eye and smiled sadly. "ISOBU STOP!" At the call of is name he stopped just for a second. "I'M SORRY!" I turned to Suigetsu who was made completely of water but he was a giant, all the water he infused with himself helped him grow to the same height Isobu was above the water. "Suigetsu Now, aim for his eyes."

A large flash of lightning struck from the sky and right before it struck around Isobu, Suigetsu shifted back to normal so he wouldn't get stuck liquified after the lightning hit the water. The large bolt of lightning struck the water electrocuting the area around Isobu and his still electrified swords stabbed into the eyes of Isobu, making him roar and me cringe. His tails thrashed and water was constantly hitting against my body until the three tails went silent and just bobbing above the water. I jumped off the surface and stood atop Isobu's shell, my chest heaving from the amount of chakra I was continuously using to try and catch the beast. I went to the rear to look for Tobi but he was no where, the deeper I looked into the water I saw his chakra. Did he really get hit, what was he doing? I thought he was playing, like he normally did to keep people underestimating him but when he didn't come up after a minute, I jumped into the water and swam down.

My chest was burning from lack of air and my ears were popping. I'm not a strong swimmer but I kept sinking down until I could grasp his cape. I released chakra from all of the points in my body, letting it shoot me to the surface of the water, Tobi thrown over my shoulder. I sucked in the sweet air and fell to my knees, practically crawling to the surface while Suigetsu sealed up Isobu. I lay Tobi flat on the ground and took his cloak off, checking to see if his chest was moving. It wasn't, what the hell. She healed his physical injuries first to see if that was the b=problem but it wasn't something medical jutsu could fix. There was water in his lungs so I started giving him chest compressions. after 30, I lifted his mask just to expose his lips and nose. I plugged his nose, tilted his head back and placed my lips over his, breathing two breaths into him. I was going to move back to chest compressions but he spluttered and coughed out water then shoved his mask down and his face never moved from mine.

(3_d POV)_

"How much did you see?" Obito spoke out harshly, the deep of his voice was raspy from the water he let into his chest.

"Nothing, I figured you used your mask for a reason and I didn't want to disrespect that. I just lifted it enough to blow some air into your lungs." Hinata spoke out quickly, she definitely could feel the harshness and it was intimidating. It was as if a switch was flipped though and Tobi wrapped the girl into a hug, giggling childishly.

"Ahh Hinata-chan is so sweet and saved Tobi!" He kept giggling and pressed his mask to her face. His face behind the mask was stone cold, a firm line but there was the faintest hint of pink on his cheeks. "Hehe Hinata-chan must love Tobi if she kissed Tobi." Obito let himself get hit and let water into his lungs just to see what Hinata would do. She was an enigma and he was still trying to figure the girl out. If she was any other member of the Akatsuki he would have been dead, he wanted this as a test. If she remembered who he was from their first meeting she surely would have let him 'die' as well but she did the opposite.

He could tell she wasn't the best swimmer even with her prowess in water ninjutsu and yet she still dove into the water to save him. Not only that, she dragged him out and gave him CPR. Anyone else would have lifted his mask fully but she didn't she kept his anonymity and just lifted it to his lips. He could have woken up but he didn't, she was so much like Rin in that moment. Rin would have done the same thing, no matter who it was his dead love would have given her life to save another and Hinata did just that. Her lips were soft against his, warm, she was sweet. No matter how much Obito tried to piss off all the Akatsuki, toying with them was amusing, Hinata never angered with him. She was always kind and loving to mostly everyone, so sweet yet so strong. He decided he could use her more, she was one deserving of living in his new world.

Hinata flopped next to him, she slid her cloak off her shivering form as well. Her clothes were at least dry underneath. Obito looked over her slim, form and the way her wet hair was plastered to her forehead. She was cute. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly and he could see her chakra dwindling, she didn't use her trump card since it was unnecessary so she was tired. It was a taxing day for the hours of travel and chakra usage. He was impressed she was still conscious, her plan was executed perfectly, she really was a smart girl, that Nara kid she talked about was a good influence on her deductive reasoning and strategy formulation. He left the work to her and Suigetsu, and she did perfectly.

Suigetsu came over, him looking just as tired. After a quick 10 minute rest they got up and made their way to the hideout where the Gedo statue was hidden. Tobi carefully trailed behind the girl to make sure she didn't slip up with being tired. Suigetsu complained about breaks and they stopped for one finally as they passed a bath house. The best part was it was communal and Obito's inner teenage boy that had just experienced his first kiss flushed. Suigetsu knew exactly what he was doing and Hinata knew it. However, she has done this before and as long as she wore a towel they could see nothing too revealing.

I raised my hands above my head and groaned as the bones along my spine cracked and I could feel my tense muscles loosen up from the stretching. Suigetsu groaned as he laid sprawled out on the ground.

"Remind me to never do that again. I'm exhausted and that was so boring." He whined, taking a large gulp from his water. He was sweating and pale and there were dark circles under his usually bright lilac eyes.

"I second that notion." I have never used my chakra for three days straight and although our output was small as it continuously drained from my body, I was so exhausted. However much that really really sucked, it was also entertaining as hell. Tobi pestered Deidara until I was sure the blonde was ready to off himself. He was fuming and lost his cool after the first day. I got to converse with everyone as well and Kisame and I finally managed to set up a training session where he wouldn't have to leave 10 minutes in. That means I get to play with Samehada, well not really because I don't want my fingers shredded when trying to touch the sword, but I get to watch Kisame use him.

"Tobi thought it was fun. Tobi got to talk to Deidara-sempai and everyone else for three days and nobody could run from Tobi!" Suigetsu gave Tobi the most bewildered expression I have ever seen and I snorted out a laugh, patting Tobi on the shoulder in condolence for the fat that he pisses everyone off enough they avoid him at all costs.

"I vote that we sleep here tonight then head over to where Kakuzu and Hidan are." Suigetsu sighed dramatically like that was the best news in the world, lazy ass water boy.

"The real question is what did you do to owe those creepy immortals a favor?" His brow was raised mockingly and he grinned, his mind probably thinking anything and everything that wasn't even close to true.

"They rescued my father from Orochimaru."

"Oh. I guess I should have expected that, I was hoping for something more juicy."

"Tobi want's to watch Hinata-chan count scary Kakuzu-san's big piles of money. Tobi doesn't think Tobi can count that high."

"You probably can't, you're an idiot." Suigetsu replied back smirking at his opinion of a perfect jab to rile up Tobi. I'm pretty sure his whole goal as our teammate is to get Tobi to lose it at some point and get angry instead of being giggly and trolling all the time.

"Tobi doesn't think Suigetsu-kun can count that high either." Tobi said it so innocently and I had to turn around to hide my laughter as Suigetsu yelled out a response.

"Both of you dumbasses go to sleep. Do not make me separate you like you are children." I was so tired, it would have been fun to let them keep going but I was exhausted

"He's the one who acts like a child." Suigetsu huffed out grinning condescendingly at Tobi.

"Tobi thought Suigetsu was a child with how small his arms are." Tobi giggled and laid back, nestling into the pillow set up on the ground. I zipped up my cloak and positioned it comfortably, laying back to rest as well. As soon as I hit the pillow, my exhaustion hit and I passed out.

"Suigetsu I get that you have low stamina but seriously, move your ass. We can stop when we reach a place to get food."

"Fine."

"Oh Oh Tobi wants Dango!" Tobi started twirling around and singing some off-key song about the sweetness of Dango. God Uchiha's and their Dango, a phenomenon I'll never fully grasp. "Hinata-chan sing the Dango song with Tobi!" Tobi grabbed my hands and started spinning me around and dancing. I loudly sang the made-up song with Tobi and counted down the time until Suigetsu would lose it and start yelling. His hands were twitching and he was smiling menacingly, ready to fight us. Suigetsu was going to blow any second but I stopped all movement as the unmistakable smell of something I thought didn't exist anymore invaded my senses. It was the strong, slightly bitter yet somehow sweet smell of coffee. Oh my god if somewhere sells coffee, I don't have to drink god forsaken tea again.

"No way." I sped off towards the coffee house, the scent getting stronger with each step forward. Now let me put it this way, coffee is not my favorite drink in the slightest, I only had it a few times in the past because it was frowned upon for children to drink it, but thats what Starbucks was for. It's actually super disgusting when black but when it's blended with some sweet flavor and iced, it is pretty damn good. Way better than tea, and the caffeine boost seems exactly like what I need in the moment. A nice bit of familiarity in my hectic ever-changing life.

"I'm glad for the break but why the hell did you freak out like that?"

"Coffee."  
"Hinata-chan this place sells Dango!" We all took a seat at the nearest table and looked over the menu. They didn't call coffee, coffee per-say. It was called caffeinated bean juice which sounds absolutely terrible but either way I ordered three of them on ice with a bit of milk and the same sweet syrup Dango is covered in. I got an order of Tonkatsu Ramen as well, Suigetsu got yogurt, and Tobi of course got some Mitarashi Dango.

"This drink better be the best thing ever."

"Far from it, but it's the after affects that make it worth it."

"Tobi is really excited to drink the special juice Hinata-chan is excited about. Maybe it will give Tobi superpowers." I smiled in mischievous glee as the drinks were set in front of us. Honestly, Obito as a kid was hyperactive and Tobi is still that way so if he drinks coffee I wan't to see what his reaction would be. It might be a hailstorm and I can't wait. I took a sip of the cool liquid and coughed. It was sweet but just by the taste I could tell it was stronger than any coffee I had ever had in my life. Probably due to the lack of processing and the way chakra flows through everything here.

Tobi downed the coffee and then when Suigetsu placed his down Tobi drank that one too. He reached to take mine as well but I chugged it down and smirked as his shoulders slumped. His posture straightened right back up as he was given his dango, which were amazingly inhaled by him. After my second glass, Tobi's fifth and Suigetsu finally drinking one, I was feeling that thrum of caffeine coursing through my veins.

Ok so coffee here is way stronger. My entire body was vibrating with the newfound energy, it was like my senses were heightened and my normally 100 mph mind was moving at 1000 mph. it was like someone was giving me an adrenaline drip straight to my blood. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time…I know I will NEVER EVER let Naruto have coffee.

"Hinata-chan Tobi really likes the bean juice. It was sweet like dango but spicy like spicy tea. Tobi is really excited to bring Deidara-Sempai to get the juice. Tobi feels like Tobi is floating and Tobi's whole body is shaking with fun." This was how Tobi was literally yelling for HOURS while he wore off the coffee craze. I wish I could complain and see I was better and super calm but it was exactly the opposite. Suigetsu and I were also high on caffeine so we were just as hyper as Tobi. (**A/N: Technically it is possible to be drunk on caffeine. I've done it and it was one of the worst days of my life). **If there was anyone who had to be around us I'm pretty sure they would have gladly killed us, actually if I wasn't on caffeine I probably would have hated the situation as well.

While we were tripping on the coffee, I broke a finger, Tobi somehow found a pet bird, and Suigetsu electrocuted himself, making him stuck in his weird gelatinous form while his chakra cells had to repair themselves. Basically I learned that sleep deprivation and too much strong ass coffee do not mix. By the time we reached Hidan and Kakuzu, my throat was raw from talking so much and so quickly and that's saying something because I talk a lot already.

"Count this quickly, sort them by bill, and _don't _mess up. Time is money." Kakuzu showed me to a pile of assorted Ryo and he went over to his own, more organized piles. I've never seen so much money in my life, I feel like Harry did when he went to Gringotts the first time and saw all the money his parents left him; except I'm not aloud to spend any of it.

"Got it. I won't ruin any of your precious money. I like my head on my shoulders thank you very much." I plopped onto the floor besides his hulking form, feeling small even when sitting down next to him.

"Just get to counting brat."

"Aye Aye Captain." I gave a two finger salute and smiled cheekily towards the massive man that is Kakuzu, he just grunted and rolled his eyes, counting through his money with a precision that only someone who has been obsessed with money as long as him can. I, as quickly as I could with my surprisingly limited time I've spent really messing with money, started counting the cash out, separating the bills into piles and when they threatened to fall, binding stacks together. When I got to ten thousand I had to start over and just count by ten thousands because continually going up by small amounts was making my brain hurt.

After what felt like weeks-in reality it was only a little over 4 hours-Kakuzu and I had made it through the entire pile amounting to a total of 4,567,267 ryo. Kakuzu was so pleased he was almost humming, I could just envision him skipping through a field of money as he sang. If there wasn't that mask on his face I would swear he was smiling. I flopped back and rubbed my temples, even with my eyes closed I could see the numbers running through my mind.

"Your work was acceptable… Thank you." The door slammed open and Hidan waltzed in, brandishing his Scythe and swinging it at Kakuzu who easily dodged the hit.

"Stop hogging my hot bitch you dirty old miser!" He retracted the chain, bringing the weapon back into his awaiting hands and snapped the large scythe to his back.  
"Back off or I'll kill you, you impotent fool." He growled out a half hearted threat. The worst he'd do is cut off his head and sew it on backwards…again. I stood up from my resting spot on the ground and made my way over to Hidan, who grinned and wrapped his arms around me. "Jashin-sama let me claim you and yet you still hang out with the other fuckers."  
"I didn't know you could claim people. Huh I guess you learn new things every day." I sarcastically replied and removed his arms from me.

"Take this garbage away from my presence."

"Sorry Kuzu! I'll bring you some food when we come back." He grunted in acknowledgment and his threads went out to slam the door shut on Hidan and I. Hidan grinned mischievously and went behind me. His hands were around my neck and before I could hit him, they were gone and replaced with the cool feeling of dainty metal pressing against my neck. I looked down and there connected on the same metal chain that my Uchiha symbol Mikoto gave me was the Jashin pendant.

"If that damned weasel gets to have something on you, so do I."

"It's really pretty you dork, I love it."  
"Damn straight you do." He was bursting with pride and we left the compound to go get food and find him a sacrifice because he was practically itching to pray to Jashin with a good sacrificial lamb. Hidan and I went to the nearest civilian town after changing out of our regular attire into something that wouldn't bring attention to us as ninja. With the amount of downtime we don't have, getting to experience things that normal, non killers get to experience is always something I look forward to and getting to do it with the people I care about makes it that much more fun.

The town had many booths set up for food and Hidan and I stopped at every one, eating until we felt like we were going to burst. I summoned Baku and had the small lion bring food back to Kakuzu, Tobi, and Suigetsu. We also ended up playing a few games as well and Hidan lost all of them. I had to drag him away as he cursed out the people running the stands and threatened them until they looked ready to piss their pants.

"You fuckers next time I come back here you better be damned sure that these fucking games aren't rigged or you will experience the true power of Lord Jashin." I had to hold in my laughter as we left to go do something else.

"Hidan come on lets go to karaoke!"

"Why the fuck would I do something as lame as that?" he scoffed and looked at me like I had 6 heads for even suggesting something as ludicrous as karaoke.

"It's super fun. Come on!" I pouted, giving him the best puppy dog eyes I could muster.

"The fuck you giving me a look like that for hot bitch…..fine." He grabbed hold of me and dragged me to where everyone was seated and listening to a half-drunk rendition of a song I didn't know any of the words to.

After the Karaoke bar, which was fun for both of us and Hidan did like 3 songs to show all the "pussy ass atheists what real talent looks like" he tracked down rogue nin that was said to be sighted in the area and I sat on the sidelines as he took them out cackling gleefully the whole time. Sometimes for being the dumbass he is, I forget how skilled he is. Hidan's skill with his physics defying scythe is impressive, he wields it to perfection. He moves fast, wild yet precise, and his taunts are that of perfection. With his immortality he has no need to dodge most of the time and it shows with how he will take a hit and just keep going, not to mention the whole shirtless aspect of him and how each attack he swung I could see his muscles tense and contract.

The area smelt of copper as Hidan laid flat in his Jashin circle and prayed to his god, the metal rod sticking straight out of his chest. When it was over, he cleaned off his blades and sauntered over to me.

"Was I fucking awesome or what."

"I want to say you're awesome but your ego is already big enough. Sit down."

"Eh, Why?"

"You're covered in blood, I'm going to heal any cuts left and clean you off because we all fucking know you will wait until it's all dry and crusty and then get it all over Kakuzu's shower like a murder scene. I'd rather not have to put your body back together after you piss him off." The silver haired Jashinist sat winked at me. I got out a canteen of water and poured it over his head, my fingers cleaning off the blood from the messy silver tips before moving down and using a towel to clean the blood off the rest of his open skin. There were so many scars on his body, most of them white and barely noticeable but a few of them were a bit more obvious and jagged, the bigger ones looked to be extremely old and not well taken care of.

"Where'd you get this scar from?" I traced down the long laceration against his ribs.

"I told you about my fucking asshole parents. That's from the day I sacrificed their pussy asses to Jashin and became immortal." Hidan turned around and pinned me beneath him, his magenta eyes flaring. "Enough about those shitty fuckers and the fucking life they gave me." He tucked a strand of hair out of my face and grinned. "The only thing I liked was the feeling of pain, someone else's pain flowing through my body as they cried out to my god and then your dumbass had to come along. I fucking love the euphoria of their pain but this time, I'm Jashin-fucking sure I'm going to enjoy the feeling of when you fucking fall for me in every way." Hidan was never one to sugar coat and he never said what he didn't mean which made this all the more crazy. My heart was palpitating as we never broke eye contact, the pink in his eyes were blazing as he smirked and licked his lips. His fingers played with the pendant on my neck, thoroughly pleased with how the symbol for his got looked against my skin.

_How the hell do I get myself into these situations?_

And with my brain shorting out I replied with the ever genius:

"Umm." Hidan cackled at my stunned expression and yanked me up then shrugged his cloak on.

"Lets go, the old geezer will be pissed if I'm late for our mission. '_Time is money''" _he mocked Kakuzu by deepening his voice and we headed back to the hideout so I could gather my stuff as well before taking on our next mission for Iwagakure in taking down some pesky Kumogakure ANBU. Alongside this mission, I had to formulate how the hell I'm going to get the Akatsuki to change their minds without getting killed, what else I was going to fuck up, and how I was going to find Kabuto when he basically dropped off the map. I need to go home, it's been over 2 years and I want to see everyone. I want to see my family, I want to bring Itachi home to his, I want to bring all the people I care about together and change the future of those who I can save.


	21. Kisame: born in water

My time between missions finally corresponded with Itachi and Kisame so I rushed to the hideout they were at, getting there late at night. It was close to the land of waves and as soon as I entered the hideout I rushed to Itachi's room. It's been too long since I've last had the chance to heal him and when I saw him lying on his bed, pale and a hand over his eyes I knew he was in pain. His chakra levels were even lower than last time, the disease has evolved to taking up his chakra, combine that with the low chakra levels he naturally has and how much chakra his Sharingan uses he is getting closer and closer to not being able to fight for more than once a day. I've been spending any and all of my free time trying to research a cure but with my limited supplies and knowledge, I'm still pretty unsure of what I can do other than slow down his demise.

"'Tachi!" I jumped onto his bed and he huffed at my weight on top of him. Even sick, he's stronger than most people ever and can handle my weight. "I missed you!"

"Hello Hinata-hime, I am pleased to see you too." Itachi spoke softly and put a hand on the top of my head.

"Ready." I slid off my cloak and threw it in the corner and unzipped Itachi's as well. His skin was not feverish this time though so I wasn't super worried about letting him go on another mission in a few days.  
"Aa."

"Always so monosyllabic." I rolled my eyes and bit his shoulder, which he swatted me off easily.

"Hn." He smiled lightly and I huffed before getting off the bed and kneeling beside him. I put one hand on his eyes and the other on the center of his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his always steady breathing. I started the mystic palm and let my chakra flow into Itachi's body, covering all his organs and going with his chakra flow, focusing it onto healing the cuts and fatigue he had from the last mission. When his external injuries were gone, I put more energy into relieving the strain on his eyes and chakra coils. The tenseness in his body relaxed with the soothing feeling and I found myself into the rhythm of healing him and trying to assess more of what was wrong with his body.

"I'm really excited to train with Kisame-sempai tomorrow."

"He is too, although I doubt you will have the same feeling tomorrow. You said the same thing before training with me."

"Ok but Shuriken suck and I fully believe I will never succeed in them but now I get to hopefully complete my jutsu!"

"Shuriken are only difficult because you do not hold your stances properly." An amused look crossed his features and his body let out the smallest of airy laughter.

"Bite me." I moved my hand from his eye to lacing out fingers together and holding his hand in mine as I healed him more, the faint green glow of the room and his soft breathing as he we talked made me tired and I went to sleep, resting my head on the edge of his bed. Itachi carefully moved over and hoisted me into the bed so i wasn't stiff in the morning, ah the ever chivalrous rogue.

At the early morning hour of 5, Kisame kicked the door open and pointed the bandaged up Samehada extremely close to my face. I jumped up in a panic and just barely managed to dodge hitting myself onto the giant chakra sucking sword.

"Ah what the fuck Kisame-sempai!" I wiped my hand down my face and forced my eyes fully open.

"Get up kid, you have one minute to be ready. For me to beat the mastery of water into you, I'm going to need all day." The shark let out a toothy, slightly menacing grin and I for a second thought I was going to die today. Itachi, for someone who is always completely on alert is the heaviest sleeper when he has the opportunity and after being drained the way he was, its no surprise he's sleeping through this mess.

"Ok Sharky, I get that you're a chakra monster dude but I'm not. I can't just use jutsu's all day." He didn't respond to my statement, just keeping that grin on his blue face as he strapped Samehada to his back. He wasn't wearing his cloak and somehow without it on he looked even bigger. His rippling muscles were emphasized by the super tight black shirt and adding that to his height that surpassed mine by a good 8 inches, he was a beast. He is literally the cooler version of Shark Boy.

"30 seconds." I threw my hair up messily and slid on my shoes before following the giant man who didn't even look tired in the slightest.

Kisame led you to a lake, a very large saltwater lake that would lead into a Mangrove forest. It was pretty cold with the brisk morning chill and with the sun barely lighting the horizon, t and fog that would probably dissipate into dew by mid morning.

"Okay kid, are you ready to truly learn the properties of water?"

"I'm pretty positive I know that already."

"Sure you do. From what I've seen of your incomplete jutsu, your control is better than mine but you are epically failing because of one reason, you don't understand water and all that there is to it." Kisame dropped Samehada onto the surface of the water before taking a seat on top of it, balancing effortless on the moving surface. He looked completely at peace, like he was in his element. "Sit on the surface of the water and let your hands rest in it. Then tell me what you feel." I sat on the surface of the water, and let the cool liquid rush over my palms. I breathed out and focused only on the water, how it felt what it was doing, the feelings of it touching my skin. It was calming, home-like. It reminded me of training at home and with Zabuza as he drilled control into me.

"The water is cold against my palms, I can feel the slow direction the current is moving. It is soothing yet powerful." A foot placed itself on my head and I was quite literally kicked under the water. I broke the surface and spluttered out a cough, letting the water out from my mouth."What the hell!" He was grinning once again with Samehada resting over his shoulder.

"Wrong. Actually, you are kind of right but you're still wrong. However, I'm not surprised with a little shit like Zabuza teaching you, he never was the all that smart." He chuckled, exposing his sharp teeth in slight annoyance for Zabuza. "You can't just feel the calmness water brings, you have to feel each ripple the water makes when disturbed, the differences in the current and temperature at different levels the power water holds, the vastness, the unpredictability, and not only that you need to feel the brutality of water. There is a reason why it is connected to our life force, you need to experience all the power behind an attack, feel what your opponent would feel when being hit by a giant wave. Only then can you fully control water." I blinked in surprise at the deepness of his understanding, I always assumed he was just a loyal teammate who liked brutal fighting and showy jutsu but he's actually pretty intelligent. I guess I should expect that from one of the most feared swordsman ever to exist.

"So it sounds like you're just going to hit me with jutsu after jutsu until I get a full understanding of how strong water really is." The grin on his features was completely terrifying, slightly bloodthirsty, and it was malicious but not in an evil way, more like the way Shisui would wear one when he fucked with something and I wouldn't know what until afterward.

"Yes, it's only when something is ready to kill you that you can fully appreciate it."

"Well… fuck it." I mustered up a grin and shrugged. "YOLO." **(A/n this is the mindset I have for a lot of things…hence why I've broken so many things and almost died from a concussion but like i'm not a ninja so there's that)**

"One more thing, you'll be attempting to dodge Samehada at the same time. He's pretty hungry so if he hits you, you'll most likely be drained of your chakra and die so be ready. I mean what's the fun of just attacking you if you don't fight back." That cheshire cat grin never lift his sharp features as he swiped Samehada at me. I flipped backwards and took that as his version of saying go. He kept up his consistent forward moving attacks while I was forced to dodge.

I dodged a low swipe from Samehada but while I was in the air Kisame hit me with the _Water Release: Scattering Bullet Technique._ It hurt like a bitch in a way I didn't know possible. When hit with a fist, or something solid there is only so much impact force, you know exactly the point it will hit and that's that but with water, its fluid so instead of just hitting one spot, it disperses over your whole body on impact so it's more like someone is just slapping you with a giant fist, that can cover and hit every part of your body.

I laid on top of the water stunned for a second before it started swirling and a fucking huge shark made of water. It's jaws were opened wide as it came barreling down at me I pushed myself out of the way, skidding on the surface of the water before I got kicked in the back, slamming right into a water wall. This went on for hours, literal hours where I had to straight up dodge for my life, I wanted so badly to just shove a dragon up his blue ass but alas I wanted to prefect my jutsu more than fight back so I didn't. I was hit with jutsu after jutsu, all non fatal but all painful as hell. I was sweating and by the end was struggling to move but Kisame was just grinning and barely looked phased at the amount of chakra he used. At midday or so, Kisame trapped me in the water prison and let me not be able to breathe until I was seeing black spots around my vision and was ready to pass out. He let me out of the trap and I fell to my knees gasping for air, dripping wet, and heaving from the awful feeling of almost drowning. Samehada was poised right above my neck and I could feel the slight chakra drain as it ate, purring happily.

"You know I could kill you like this, Samehada can feed on your chakra and I can feed my blood lust and shred you." I turned my head up to look him in the eyes and gave a weak smile, pushing my sopping hair from my face.

"I know, but I trust you not to." He looked taken aback for a second before snarling at me, barring his extremely sharp and cerated teeth as a threat.

"You naive kid, I'm from the Blood Mist, I killed my own teammates what makes you think I won't kill you too." Smaehada stopped eating my chakra but it was pressed close to my neck, one movement and I was gone.

"If you wanted to kill me you would have done it by now. If 'Tachi trusts you with his life, I trust you with mine. I think you, just like everyone else has a good reason for why they went rogue, you're not a senseless killer." His dark eyes narrowed on me and he looked conflicted.

"Stand up little _Orokamono_ **(it means fool) **you have some time to rest before we get back to work."

"Kisame-sempai, you can breathe underwater right?"

"No, I just look like a shark." His words were dripping with sarcasm. I turned towards where he was sitting against a tree and grinned excitedly. This would be the point were I'd add Might Gai's genjutsu and freaking sparkle.

"Man, that is like the coolest thing EVER! You are basically the highest form of evolution. Not only do you have the most chakra for any non-jinchuriki, you have perfectly functional lungs and gills. No other living creature in the history of like ever has been able to breathe equally as good on land and in water but you can do both. That is the best evolutionary trait possible, plus you look way more badass as a shark than you would if you were what I guess would be considered 'normal'." Kisame's surprise turned quickly into amusement and pride the more I gushed about the excitement of how he is a zoologists dream. His laugh is surprisingly happy and contagious.

"You really are the weirdest kid I've ever spoken to." His hand was on my head and he ruffled my damp hair. His entire hand could grip my head like a basketball.

"So can I touch Samehada?" I reached a hand out ready to pet the sharkskin sword, hopefully if Kisame is in control he wouldn't want to stab me.

"If you want to lose a finger, he'd be happy to let you touch him." I retracted my hand and the sword opened his mouth and nipped at where my fingers just were.

"Yeah I like my fingers so…" He rolled his eyes and stood up, running his fingers through his dark hair and taking in a deep breath.

"Let's go little Orokamono, time to complete that jutsu." I trained on completing the jutsu, which actually was extremely close to being perfect after Kisame's training. When I was creating my jutsu, it was so much easier for me to visualize the attack and the strenght I wanted behind it now that I had a good idea of the feeling of being hit by different water styles. Turns out beating the skill into me is a successful form of training. There was one thing missing from the jutsu but I wasn't sure what it is, either way it is the most powerful water jutsu in my arsenal and possibly one of the strongest one's ever. It's definitely an S-rank technique. I worked until I dropped and my legs felt like jelly, which amused the shark to none other. He slung me over his broad shoulder and carried me back to the hideout. Itachi saw me being carried and the slightest of smiles flickered onto his features. He wasn't at all surprised by the bruises and cuts coating my body or the way my hair was a complete god-awful mess that was going to take me forever to brush out.

"How was training Hinata-hime?" I glared at him and went limp in Kisame's hold before he dropped me unceremoniously to the ground. Kisame took the seat next to his partner and was going to take a bite of Itachi's dango but when he was glared at with the Sharingan, he decided against it…before stealing one right when Itachi turned back to me and then moving to stand on the opposite side of the couch.

"It's still better than the hell you put me through." He looked up and down my messy and bruised form, his deep eyes glistening with amusement and disbelief.

"It certainly looks like it." Itachi had this way of being sarcastic without most people being able to figure it out, I wasn't one of those people and I lazily raised my middle finger towards him before crawling across the flood and getting on the couch and rested my head in Itachi's lap. He just placed a hand on my head and continued eating with the other.

"Kisame-san, you look pleased. What happened?"

"Nothing other than the little Orokamono acknowledges that I'm the epitome of amazing and that sharks are better than humans." Itachi looked between the two of us with a slightly raised brow which just got him two matching grins and no real answers.

"Hn." We were sitting in a peaceful atmosphere, I had my feet on Sharky's cool skin and my head was happily in the Uchiha's lap. Kisame was doing something with Samehada and chatting with me while Itachi was reading a book, anytime he'd furrow his brows I'd send a bit of the little chakra I had gained back into him to relieve the strain the best I could. You know that little feeling of being peaceful and then it just ends, yeah that's exactly what happened when Tobi popped up out of nowhere and threw all his weight onto me.

"Ugh, fuck, Tobi-kun get off. Your heavy." Instead of getting off, he just adjusted to be lying flat on top of me, distributing his weight better. He pressed his mask close to my face and stared at me for a second before gasping.

"Oh no, Tobi thinks Hinata-chan looks terrible, what happened?!" Kisame let out a mirthful snicker but I could see how his whole body was completely tense. Other than Itachi, Kisame was the only other member to know who Tobi 'really' is but I'm guessing he was warned of what would happen if he divulged his identity.

"Kisame tried to kill me!" Tobi placed his hands on the side of his face and let out the most disbelieving sound and turned to Kisame, putting himself in between us.

"Tobi will protect Hinata-chan from scary Kisame-san!"

"Thanks To-" Samehada shot out and sent the masked man to the ground. Kisame's jaw was set tightly but he still played oblivious.

"Go annoy somebody else _Tobi-kun_." The slight emphasis on Tobi's alias didn't go unnoticed by any of us and Itachi's fingers twitched as I felt the slightest increase in a potent killing intent before it dropped off once more. It was a warning and I had to continue to play oblivious to everything going on around me.

"Wahh Kisame-san is scary!" I put my hand on Tobi's dark hair and pet him like a puppy.

"Don't worry about him, sharks don't like to eat super sweet food and by the amount of sugar you inhale, you'll be fine." The lollypop's entire body seemed to deflate as he leaned into my touch. I wonder if all emotionally stunted children like human contact, by the reactions Gaara, Naruto, Shisui, Tobi, and Sasuke (though he denies it all he wants, he is the most touchy person and plays it off as I wanted it) I'm pretty sure its true. Actually I think I fit into that category, maybe it's my issue with abandonment that makes it so I struggle with being alone but who knows, Kakashi would be the only exemption of this, but when is he ever really part of the norm.

"Itachi-kun we're leaving at 6 tomorrow." Kisame stood up from his spot, obviously in displeasure at having to lie, if one thing is true Kisame is loyal to a fault and lying is a big no-no in his book so him being forced to is most likely difficult and going against his core beliefs.

"Hn."

"We're going to have a real fight next time Little Orokamono." I guess that name is going to stick, I mean I guess its better than him calling me kid all the time.

"Damn straight Sharky, I'm so going to kick your ass for the beat down I took today." He bared his teeth at Tobi and walked away to do whatever he does alone.

"You're late, I don't like to be kept waiting and you made us wait for over an hour. I should kill you brats for that." Sasori's gruff voice spoke out from inside of Hiruko, the glare directed to you since you were considered the 'leader' of the team, mainly because you were on a team with Tobi and Suigetsu, any other team and you'd not be the leader.

"Ahh Deidara-sempai Save Tobi from Sasori-san, Tobi is a good boy, Tobi doesn't want to die yet!" The masked Uchiha jumped behind the blonde and held onto him cowering in fear which got a scoff and Deidara shoving Tobi away, threatening to blow him up.

"Calm down puppet man, we ran into an old lady on the way here and she needed help so being the wonderful team we are, helped her carry her groceries home. I would _never_ purposely keep the great Sasori no Akasuna waiting on our little old team." Tobi made no move to acknowledge what I said, he is too good at what he does. I teased slightly being honest slightly just trying to rile the person who seems to dislike my presence the most. Something about my story still doesn't sit well with the genius puppeteer and I'm positive he's still trying to figure me out.

"You insufferable little brat."

"If you really want to blame somebody blame him." I pointed to Suigetsu who stopped drinking and went wide eyed at the accusation, I grinned. Sasori snapped towards him threateningly waving the scorpion tail. "He's the one who has low stamina and has to take breaks all the time." Suigetsu took a step back, if one person stressed him out it was Sasori, only somebody equally as fucked up as Orochimaru would be able to survive being the snake's partner, and Sasori must be strong if he even made Orochimaru wary of attacking.

"Hey what the hell is that for huh! You're the one who agreed to the breaks and stopping at the bath house just because you were so wanting to see me shirtless." Suigetsu grinned impishly at me, sending a wink my direction.

"Both of you, shut up. I don't care whose fault it is, on this mission we move on my time. No breaks or I will poison you with something worse than death." Savor promised, the mouth of his puppet clicking threateningly as his tail lowered to point

"Aye Aye Captain Sasori." Suigetsu and I chorused, exchanging smirks at the perfect unison and then turning back to the annoyed puppeteer.

"Sasori-Danna that was pretty scary hmm. However, Hinata-chan doesn't seem scared enough, maybe you should smack the girl around a bit yeah."

"Dei you asshole. Just for that, Tobi-kun is your roommate for the night, I'm keeping Sasori to myself, he has to help me with something anyways."

"You wouldn't un, I thought we were friends." The smirk dropped right off his face and he stared at me with betrayal and disbelief. I was grinning like a little shit and I know it.

"So did I but apparently not." I feigned a heartbreak but it was so unconvincing, the smile just wouldn't leave my face especially when Tobi started dancing in circles and singing happily.

"I only let Sasori-Danna smack around the best of my friends." The blonde tried to appease me but his fingers were twitching and ready to send a bomb right at me.

"Lies, Tobi-kun is yours and yours alone tonight."

"YAY! Tobi gets to sleep with Deidara-sempai, Tobi bets Deidara-sempai is soft to cuddle with like a girl because Deidara-sempai has long, shiny hair like a girl."

"I'll kill you, you stupid singing bastard." Tobi ran behind Suigetsu, who just watched with amusement. "Come on Sasori-Danna, you aren't going to stick me with that fool right un?"

"All options put me with senseless idiots but Hinata-san is correct. We have business to take care of tonight and I am not postponing it any longer." All of us clad in out Akatsuki cloaks made the journey to out inn, the small little town right on the outskirts of Suna. The sandy and desolate area that expanded for miles across the land of wind made me long for talking to Gaara, getting to see how much he has grown and how the village has to love and respect him by now.

"The deal is I help you and you give me information. What do you want?" Sasori was out of his Hiruko shell-no point since I already know what he looks like-and I listened to the smooth yet bored tone of the redhead as he spoke so demandingly.

"I need you to analyze this blood sample and tell me what you find." The human-puppet went to sit on his futon and studied the blood, his chakra running through the sample and looking close and detailed with his enhanced vision. After 20 minutes or so he moved to be back in front of me, handing me the vile back.

"It seems almost as if the blood cells are attacking one another, it is similar to a poison where it masks itself something beneficial to the body then destroys the body inside out. The cells are diseased, some of them being real and others being a disease and causing the persons body to fight with itself."

"How do you create an antidote for a poison like that?"

"You don't."

"So this disease…it's incurable?" His chocolatey eyes met with mine and they were glossy, completely uncaring.

"Most likely yes, and at the stage this blood seems to be at, the person is already close to dying." My hand tightened its grip around the vial and I felt dizzy. That was not the news I wanted to hear.

"I don't believe that. I refuse to believe that. That's why you're here. You are going to help me find a way to cure this or slow the effects down at least long enough to find a cure and in return I will tell you _everything_ you want to know." I can't-I won't let Itachi die. I will do whatever it takes and Sasori knows more about the blood and how things affect it than anyone else I know. If anyone can help me it would be him.

"You are naive and foolish." Sasori pulled out a scroll and books of blood and plants came as well as some of his handwritten journals came out. "Whose blood is this."

"Itachi's." Sasori let out the lowest hum of surprise, a smirk on his pale features.

"I would have never expected the Uchiha of all people to die from something so menial."

"He's not going to die." My voice cracked slightly.

"Ah yes, you and I are going to save him." Sasori's tone never changes but I could tell he was completely sarcastic about thinking we could save Itachi. We studied through the books together, I was reading one on plants that slow blood flow trying to find one that could potentially slow the blood flow without actually being poisonous or harmful.

—

_(3d person POV)_

To Sasori, Hinata was interesting. She was infuriating and he believed she was delusional, but she was interesting. He could never understand why she was so hell bent on saving his and the rest of the Akatsuki's lives. They were supposed to die, they were all criminals of the highest caliber and yet this idiotic girl wants to 'give them better lives than what they started with.' It would have made more sense to him if she was blindingly optimistic and foolish but after spending time with her, she was the opposite.

Her humor was slightly dark, when she battled Orochimaru she was as ruthless as the rest of them, but she still seemed so pure hearted. It was a puzzle, one he didn't expect to enthrall him so much. Sasori wanted to solve Hinata, find out what made the girl tick, find out the deeper reason she was so willing to save all of them. he also wanted to live, not just because he was supposed to die at the hands of a girl with pink hair in the future, but because he wanted to see how Hinata would change the future she told him of. he still believed the idea that her future knowledge was a kekkei genkai but there was no other option that he could think of, she was too honest and too knowledgeable about everything for her to just be joking around.

His brown eyes looked over to the Hyuga, studying her. She was concentrating deeply on reading, her body was tense and the light airy nature she carried was gone and replaced with the more solemn face he had only seen a few times. She was so intent on saving a dying man, he could see it in the fiery passion burning in her lavender eyes as she read each word carefully.

The damn brat was on his nerves for occupying his thoughts and wanting to know her, he didn't like the unknown. Sasori knew what seemed to be worthless details, he needed to know more. He knew how she would study so intently that her tongue would poke out her mouth or how she had the tendency to babble nonsense when nervous but he didn't know truly why she wanted to help the criminals or why she seemed to care so deeply for everyone but herself. Yet another thing he never understood, she seemed to put everyone else's lives above her own but hid that borderline suicidal fact so well if someone wasn't paying attention they'd miss it. What kind of idiot cared more about everyone else more than themselves.

"Dammit there is nothing in this book either!" Hinata growled out, practically panicking at this point. Her stress levels were maxing out, everything seemed to be crashing down on her at once and the puppet master just watched as she stressed herself out more and more after each word.

"Calm down brat, you're annoying. Just breathe and read, glaring at the book isn't going to make it any better."

Even with all of her annoyances, Sasori was at least glad Hinata was interesting to look at. He was a man that liked to see beautiful things, he believed beauty should be eternal and it pleased him to see something beautiful. In the physical standpoint Hinata was beautiful, many women were but Hinata was more interesting to look at, all of her expressions were of different beauty and Sasori enjoyed looking at her, thinking of how wonderful of a puppet she would make, he could capture her in her most beautiful position and make it look that way forever. Then he wouldn't have to hear the idiotic and downright crazy things that she would spur out of her crude mouth often times.

But if Sasori were to make her a puppet, he knew he would die if not by Itachi then by his fake artist of a partner. The blonde was clearly fond of the bluenette, they were friends as odd as Sasori found their relationship, it functioned well and they got along together. They considered each other friends and that was obvious to even somebody who was not that knowledgeable on how true relationships were supposed to work. He would guess that he and Deidara would also be friends if it came down to it, he can't stand the blonde but he would also kill anyone who dared to try and kill his partner.

Sasori saw something he noted in one of his books on how he creates his puppets, the technique may be fatal, but if done right, it also might be the thing to save the Uchiha's life. And if it fails, Sasori will have a puppet that makes the rest of his pale in comparison. An Uchiha with the highest level of Sharingan would surely make him not just the best puppet master, but perhaps the strongest ninja ever to fight. Hmm, each outcome is interesting.

"Hinata-san."

"Yes?" he slid the passage over for her to read and her eyes brightened after each word. She looked up to him, practically shaking with excitement. "This is genius, this might actually work."

"You would need somebody with the exact same blood type and you'd have to be precise with the time and speed of flow, even the slightest mistake and he's dead." He expected her to become slightly dejected at his words but she just smiled, it was so bright it felt blinding.

"I won't mess up. Not at all." Sasori was tackled into a hug, something he hadn't genuinely felt in many years. He could feel the warmth of her skin against his body, the way she was so soft yet strong, the tightness of her hold on him as she hugged him with pure gratefulness. yet another thing, Hinata was too naive on the ways of men, she didn't like to be alone and found herself in situations like this with men, if it were anybody else, she would be easily taken advantage of…if anybody was dumb enough to pick a fight with her. However, he felt something coil inside of him, his heart he could feel the canister beating more strongly than ever, it was just like when his parents hugged him as a child. He could faintly remember their warmth against him. "Thank you Sasori! Thank you so much."

She looked up at him with those large pale eyes, filled with such depth, he didn't look away. Instead, he shoved her off of him.

"Stop being clingy brat. Go to sleep now, you need it for tomorrow. I'm not waiting for you just because your tired."

"Oh yeah, what exactly are we doing in Suna?"

"Junchuriki scouting, the little brat is supposedly the Kazekage. We have to scope out his schedule to find the best time for the blonde idiot to attack."

"Well…fuck." Sasori raised an eyebrow but didn't care to ask the girl why her reaction was so dismal. The girl got up quickly and shrugged her cloak on over her clothing. "I uh really have to go to the bathroom." She looked sheepish as she rushed out of the room.

"Yes, well I didn't need to know that. Leave."

Hinata activated her Byakugan to make sure nobody was close enough to see what she was doing, especially a certain masked Uchiha. She bit into her thumb harshly tearing the skin deep enough to draw blood before slamming it onto the ground. There was a puff of smoke then a small black female lion that barely reached Hinata's knee caps appeared, she blended into the night and her body was muscled perfect for quick movements.

"Hello Hinata-hime, I am Sari-chan. What can I do for you tonight?" She spoke proper and soft and Hinata gave the lion a smile and a small treat.

"Hello Sari, I really need you to deliver a message for me. Please find the Kazekage and deliver this to him at all costs. It is a matter of life and death, please do not get caught, if you are going to be by anybody but Gaara disappear." Hinata carefully slipped a letter into the collar of Sari's pink collar.

"I will not let you down on my first official mission!" The lioness bowed and then rushed off quickly, her dark coat blending into the night. Hinata slumped to the ground for a minute before picking herself back up and heading back to her shared room with the puppet. If anybody looked close enough, they could see the slight tremble in her palms and the nervous way she bit into the soft skin of her bottom lip.

Gaara was winding down after the long day of paperwork by sitting atop the roof of his Kage tower and looking out over the village he protected. There were ninja taking their rounds and other than the whistle of the winds, it was silent…peaceful. That was until his sand became agitated and a shield was put up, blocking something that let out a soft 'oof.' the sand dropped and Gaara was at the ready to attack when he came face to face with a small lion.

"What are you doing here little creature?"

"Are you the one Hinata-hime calls Panda-kun?" His guard dropped almost completely at the name of the female he had heard nothing from in the last few years.

"Yes. Is she alright?" He was worried but by the unperturbed look of the small lion, his fears seemed for naught.

"Ahh yess no need to worry. I am here as a messenger for Hinata-hime." Sari showed Gaara the letter in her collar and he took it, looking at the familiar messy signature of Hinata. He held the letter a bit tighter, this was definitely from her.

"Thank you…"

"Sari-chan."

"Thank you Sari-chan." The lioness gave him a lick on his palm before being summoned back to her realm. The ginger Kazekage opened the letter and his teal eyes read over each letter carefully.

_Dear Panda-kun,_

_Long time no talk! I've missed you. I've made a lot of new friends…but there is no time for that. One day we will catch up. You are in danger, the Akatsuki are planning on making their move on you soon. The only way for you to keep your village, you, and Shukaku safe is to flee. Go to the leaf village no later than tomorrow morning, DO NOT LET ANYONE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING. Except Kankuro…but he has to stay completely silent about as well. Nobody not even your most trusted comrades can know. Naruto should be returning soon as well, but you need to stick together. Tell Kakashi I've sent you and he and Jiraiya will know what to do. Please Gaara I beg of you to do this, right now there is nothing more I can do without risking the lives of many more. Go to the leaf now, do not leave until you get a signal from me._

_Love,_

_The highly paranoid and terrified slightly rogue Hinata_

_PS: do whatever to make sure this letter disappears…eat it for all I care but destroy this paper_

Gaara chuckled at the familiarity of his friend, she was as odd as ever. However, the urgency in what she wrote spoke volumes, he knew this was no laughing matter and decided to follow her advice, not just for himself but for the sake of the village he would give his life to protect. He took one last glance at the handwriting, letting his fingers trace over the scrawl before crushing it into oblivion. Within an hour he was on his trek to the leaf village, his brother taking the role of Kazekage for the time being under the pretense of Gaara being extremely ill.

Whatever was going on was dangerous and if he was going to flee, he was glad it was going to be with Naruto. He would keep his friend safe as well.

_Fuck._

So you know when you go on a recon-mission and everything is supposed to go all fine and dandy. You get in, find information, study the target, and get out…without being caught? Yeah well that definitely didn't happen. Sasori being from Suna supposedly knew every entrance and exit as well as the times when there is nobody guarding the gates so we took his advice and Deidara and I…who ended up being forced to separate from the rest of our team were surrounded by a good 30 to 40 Jonin and ANBU ninja, all pointing weapons right at us. At least that means Gaara took my threat seriously if security was amped up to this degree but dammit I don't want to die and I don't particularly want to kill all of these people and being with Deidara who has no problem blowing everyone up to kingdom come is just putting me at a lose-lose here.

"Put your hands in the air and explain what the hell you're doing in our village." Deidara smirked and raised his hands into the air, I raised mine as well and opened my mouth to speak and hopefully save us from an unfortunate situation.

"Ha ha so funny story w-" Deidara shoved his hand over my mouth. The mouth on his palm opened and parted my lips with its tongue, shoving its tongue inside of my mouth and then passing a little clay bomb into my mouth. Deidara looked at me, smiling full of mirth and I glared at him, trying to figure out what the hell he's doing.

"You know you shouldn't talk when your mouth is full hmm." And then his arm was tightly wrapped around my chest, pulling me against him as there was a kunai at my throat. "I wasn't planning on getting caught yeah. If you let me out of here, the girl doesn't die un. She's a good friend of the Kazekage and I'm sure he'd appreciate her to visit him alive." The weapons being pointed towards me all shifted to Deidara and they looked between the two of us. I put on my best look of fear, realizing how smart he was actually playing this. The kunai pressed tighter against my neck and drew a bit of blood, Deidara was enjoying this immensely.

"Release the girl." An ANBU barked out harshly.

"Hey-are you sure this isn't a ruse? She is dressed the same as the blonde." A female Jonin questioned worriedly, suspicion evident in her deep brown eyes.

"No I remember Temari-sama mentioning a Hygua being an ally." Another Jonin mentioned and a few spoke in agreement.

"Release the girl. NOW."

"You're lucky Leader-sama said I couldn't make a scene yet yeah? Next time all you bastards will become my art. _Katsu._" I felt the clay burst in my mouth and I opened it, surprised my head didn't blow up. Instead of sparks, a bunch of green smoke came pouring out of my mouth like I was a fog machine. The entire area was covered and without activating my Byakugan I couldn't see a thing. A familiar arm gripped mine and jumped away, pulling us onto the soft surface of a large owl to fly away on. There were shouts below us but we continued to fly away, heading to the rendezvous point.

"What the hell Deidara! We could have completed your actually not shitty plan without you doing that." I punched him in the shoulder. "Was it really necessary to shove that thing inside of my mouth, never in my life have I wanted to make out with somebody's _hand. _"

"No un, it wasn't." He smirked impishly and raised the hand, its tongue licking along its lips.

"Then why did your hand shove its tongue down my throat?"  
"Because you'd react like this un. You're fun to rile up, yeah." He slung his arm over my shoulder, grinning cheekily. I huffed at his laughter. "You should have seen your face un. I've never seen somebody's expressions change faster in my life, it was pure art yeah." He laughed even harder as we started descending and I cracked a smile. It would have been funnier had it been anyone else.

"Shut up about it already."

"Only if you give my mouth something better to do hmm."

"Wha-" I spluttered indignantly and Deidara let out a deep laugh as he hopped off the bird

"Oh and I gotta say un, you taste much better than clay." He flipped his hair back and and stood beside his partner, the arrogant smrik never leaving his face. I followed suit landing between Tobi and Suigetsu, the former latching onto me excitedly.

"So what did you find out when we were separated, we got nothing."

"The mission is postponed indefinitely. The one-tailed brat is off at an unknown location for an unknown time period and it seems that nobody knows where or why." Sasori's eyes flickered to my form suspiciously but he said nothing else.

"That was almost a complete waste un." Deidara huffed, in agreement with Sasori's annoyance at the time that could have been spent doing literally anything else. I wasn't all that surprised at the worthless endeavor but it still was a waste of time, and energy worrying about the possible fight that almost ensued.

"Man, I spent all that time in this shitty sand village and got nothing out of it. I'm going to tell Leader-sama to never send us on joint missions again." I raised an eyebrow at Suigetsu's annoyance and seeming cocky tone of talking to Pein. Even I'm not dumb enough to do that, his eyes met with mine and then he seemed to realize what he said but of course refused to go back on his word and look like a pansy.

"Oh are you now? I wonder how that's going to go." Tobi giggled.

"Tobi thinks Suigetsu-kun is going to die if he tries to talk to Leader-sama like that." Tobi bounced right up to Suigetsu and began to sniffle. "Please don't die Suigetsu-kun. Tobi doesn't want you do die, nobody else will give Tobi water when he's thirsty!"

"As if I'm going to die at the hands of Leader-sama. I'm only going to die when I've collected all 7 swords."

We reported to Pein on the failure of the mission and he was not pleased. Our little squad of five was disbanded and Tobi, Suigetsu, and I were sent off on a mission to find Fū who has Chomei inside of her so that when we capture the other beasts, we can take her in as well and seal her into the statue. Though she will be later because we have to seal the lesser beasts first so the statue can work its way up in chakra and not explode from too much of an influx at once or something.

Fū is supposed to be in Takigakure somewhere and while we all stopped at a small little teahouse to eat, I ran off to go to the bathroom. I winced as I bit into my hand, drawing blood and did the familiar signs for my summoning jutsu. The small, shining body of Sari appeared before me. She was bowing and smiling, I returned the gesture and kneeled down to her height.

"Hello Hinata-hime, how may I help you today?" I pulled out a bag of toffee and handed it to Sari, knowing she has a sweet tooth. She giggled in glee and licked my cheek happily.

"Thank you for your help with Gaara, I have a similar mission. I need you to head to Takigakure and find a woman named Fū. She has short green hair, orange eyes, and beautiful dark skin. Her chakra will be more massive and intense than anybody else there so you should be able to find her easily. Give her this message please."

"Of course Hinata-hime. I would be happy to help you!" I nuzzled her nose with mine and scratched behind her ear eliciting a purr from her.

"Please be safe and when you return home tell Muramasa-sama and the others I say hello. Goodbye Sari-chan." I tucked the small letter into the pouch on her collar and he ran off, moving faster than I could even if I tried, her black fur glittering against the sun. I straightened myself out and licked the blood from my finger so there was no evidence I summoned anything before heading back to my teammates.

"Hinata-chan you're finally back! Tobi was worried, what took Hinata-chan so long?"

"Sorry Tobi-kun, I just had some girl problems to deal with." Suigetsu choked on his yogurt and looked away while Tobi giggled teasingly and got closer to me.

"Oh Oh is Hinata-chan finally a woman? he he, Hinata-chan is bleeding…maybe that is why Hinata-chan is so emotional." He tapped the mouth of his mask like he had just figured out the biggest secret of all. I took a bite of Ikayaki and Suigetsu scooted back, understanding the rule of not talking about that with women, they were just lucky I was too deep into my worries about getting caught in my 'master plan'.

"It's just a joke Hinata-chan, don't get mad. Tobi is just a dumbass remember?" Suigetsu laughed amicably and smiled, getting me to smile in return, though it was probably a bit strained. I was so nervous, the actual comment didn't bother me, I was just panicking because getting caught now would mean absolute failure.

"Tobi-kun, I'm not mad at you, I'm just a bit worried about failing this mission. Leader-sama is already in a bad mood and failing this mission would surely mean some kind of punishment."

"Tobi thinks Hinata-chan should worry less. Tobi is a good boy and won't fail the mission, Hinata-chan can trust Tobi!"

"Yeah don't stress too much about it, it's such a waste of time. Tobi's an idiot but he hasn't failed a mission yet. And you have me, I'm amazing and so we can't fail." He wrapped and arm around my shoulder and held out a spoonful of the melon flavored yogurt he was eating. I gratefully took a bite and let the sweet flavor coat my tongue.

"Thanks guys."

_(3d person POV)_

Fū was resting at her home on the outskirts of the village…alone as always. She loved adventure and doing fun things, meeting fun people but all of that was hard for her. being the container for the 7 tails, she was despised by her entire village even though she was the only thing protecting them from the rampaging Chomei inside of her. Normally Fū would be out doing something exciting or training but the time spent with her village, being their weapon on display for them all to scoff and glower at was draining and she was tired, she was lonely so when there was scratching outside her window she didn't hesitate to open her window. A small black lion entered the room and Fū squealed, petting the creature immediately, a bright smile on her pretty features.

"Ohh 'ssu you're such a pretty little kitty! What brings you to my home 'ssu?" She spoke happily, petting the lioness softly not expecting a response so she jumped slightly when the soft, sweet voice of Sari spoke up.

"Hello miss, are you Fū?"

"Oh my KAMI! You can talk? Please let me keep you, you're so adorable 'ssu. Yep, I'm Fū!" The Jinchuriki spoke excitedly, eyes glittering with interest.

"My name is Sari-chan, I would love to play with you but I already have a master, I am sorry." Sari bowed apologetically but was given a kind smile in return.

"It's ok 'ssu, why are you here?" Sari turned so Fū could see the letter sticking out, the girl grabbed it and carefully opened it, scanning over the contents while Sari rested in her lap. Each word made her jaw drop wider and wider.

_Dear Fū-san,_

_My name is Hinata Hyuga. I am an undercover member of the Akatsuki on a mission from the leaf village and my goal is to protect the Junchuriki like yourself from being captured to ensure your safety and the prevention of the end of the world. I understand our villages are not strong allies but my goal is not just for the sake of the village, I genuinely want to protect you and Chomei inside of you. Two of my closest friends are Jinchuriki, Gaara no Sabaku host of the one tails and Naruto Uzumaki host of the 9 tails. I am doing everything in my power to protect them and everyone else alike. I am on a mission to scout and capture you to be sealed and you will die if this is accomplished so I'm begging you to please trust me. Go to the leaf village, find either the Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, Shisui Uchiha, or Naruto Uzumaki and let them know I am the one who sent you. They will welcome you with open arms as well as be accepting and caring for who you are. I promise they will provide you protection and make sure that you are not killed. I will meet you at some point as well but for now I am trying to prevent anybody else from being sealed. Do not let anybody know where you are going and why, please listen to me. I hope you do so that you can survive. I wish you the best._

_Hinata Hyuga_

Fū was shocked, she did not ever expect to get a letter like this in her life, but she believed it especially since the girl used Chomei's name not just calling her a demon, that was a sign of trust if there was one. The words seemed to raw and honest for this Hinata girl to be lying and it wasn't as if she had strong ties to her village, they all hated her so if she would be able to find interesting people that would accept and care for her, it was a risk worth taking. She stalked out of the village that night and made the long journey to the leaf, finding Kakashi Hatake and being welcomed into the protection party, meeting the other two Jinchuriki as well. Fū decided she might like it with these new people and it made her giddily excited to meet Hinata, especially with all the high praise she received from Gaara and the funny stories told by Naruto.

—

_(Hinata pov)_

Finding out where Fū lived was exceptionally easy. The people of Takigakure held extreme contempt for the woman and they were very willing to give up the location of where she resided because they did not care for her safety. A few people even hopefully questioned if we were going to harm her or kill her, god people are such assholes.

We checked around all of her usual spots she spent time in but she wasn't there so we ended with going to a small house on the outskirts of the village, it was little and surrounded by pretty flowers and a little stream ran beside the estate. We busted the door down and looked around finding no sight of her, there wasn't even a trace of her massive chakra anywhere. Her clothes were packed up and it was obvious she wasn't there or going to be there for a while. I let out a deep sigh of relief and met back up with Tobi, whose fists were clenched and there was just the slightest intimidating pressure of bloodlust baring down on me as I stared at the wall he was looking at. In bold red letters there was a giant 'Hi Akatsuki.' The bloodlust baring down on the room retracted before it could be fully traced back to Tobi, but I knew…he was infuriated. I was interfering with his-well Zetsu's-plan and he had no idea who it was or how it was happening. Suigetsu entered the room and whistled with amusement and slight fear, he knew exactly what was happening as well.

"Tobi thinks somebody is playing a prank on the Akatsuki and Leader-sama is not going to be happy!" His high giddy voice was just slightly deeper and strained, if Tobi knew it was me, I'd be dead right now.

"We're fucked." I muttered.

"Yeah." Suigetsu breathed out in agreement.

"Whelp, lets go report our mission and see how the other people have fared."

—

**_Omake: Hinata gets her first period_**

For the last few days Hinata had felt off. Her stomach was constantly hurting, making it feel like there was a massive weight sitting inside of her body and crushing her muscles. She also was confused, it was like everything she was feeling was amplified by 10 and the littlest things set her off and made it so she wanted to cry or punch somebody in the face.

On her way to the hideout from returning from her mission, the only thing she wanted to do was have Itachi brush her hair as she curled up in a ball and was fed some of Hidan's dessert. Before she entered the hideout fully, she stopped as she felt her underwear get wet, it felt like she was peeing but like not really, she could feel something warm and wet dripping down her thighs and her face flushed red when she realized what was happening. Honestly she was so unprepared for this, she completely forgot that periods even happened because she was 15 and it had never crossed her mind but now, she felt like an idiot. And she was pissed about it, this is why she was fucking feeling so shitty, she finally understood the plight of women complaining about the pain, it was horrendous.

Kisame could smell blood when the barrier to the hideout was opened, he recognized the scent of Hinata's team so he went to check it out, Itachi following along incase Hinata was the one injured. The smell of blood was stronger when the trio walked into the room but Kisame could smell a difference between regular blood and what he was smelling now, this smelt strongly of hormones as well. One look at Hinata's blushing face and he figured out what was going on. They locked eyes and he grinned raising an eyebrow and shifting his eyes down then back up, making her pout and blush harder, her legs crossing over one another tightly.

"Itachi-kun, our little Orokamono is finally a woman." He chuckled as everyone took a second to figure out what was going on. Itachi's eyes were open in shock just for a second and he turned to Hinata.

"So the blood was…"

"Yep!" Kisame chirped, finding extreme amusement at the embarrassment of Hinata.

"Kisame-san, leave it alone. Hinata-hime, go shower. I will see if Konan-sama has anything you can use." Suigetsu opened his mouth to speak, the grin on his face was matching with Kisame's but before he could say anything, Hinata shot a glare towards him and he raised his hands and just headed to his room.

"So you're saying you fucking bleed once a month just because you're finally hitting puberty?" Hidan questioned, trying to figure out why she was washing clothes that were covered in blood waist down

"Yes." Hinata sighed, already done with the shit of womanhood and she didn't need Hidan messing with her for it as well, Kisame and Suigetsu were enough. The shark because he could smell it and would always know.

"Thats so fucking hot." He grinned, leaning into her and sniffing the metallic smell she was washing away.

"HIDAN!"


	22. Homebound

"We have successfully sealed the two tails, three tails, four tails, and five tails; however, somebody is selling secrets of the Akatsuki. The remaining Jinchuriki have gone into hiding because they have been tipped off. Whoever this person is, they are in the way of our ultimate goal. A prime suspect would be Orochimaru's lap dog Kabuto Yakushi; however, I have reason to believe the traitor is amongst us. Find out who is interrupting our goals and eliminate them." The leader of the Akatsuki spoke harshly, demandingly to his more trusted followers Itachi, Sasori, Kakuzu, Zetsu( who was hidden very well), and Konan. Pein being in his hologram form did nothing to deter the anger emanating from his body, the people in the room with him could feel it as well.

Sasori had a feeling he knew exactly what was going on, he figured it out as soon as Gaara wasn't in the village. He watched Hinata and Gaara at the Chunin exams, saw how deeply the girl cared for people, he saw how she didn't enjoy killing people. Knowing that and the almost too perfect timing of the remaining Jinchuriki all disappearing or being almost impossible to catch based off of security. There was only one option, Hinata had tipped them off. Why, Sasori wasn't positive and it was something he was going to find out. He didn't have the urge to spoil her secrets either, this was entertaining and this might end up beneficial for him so he had no need to sentence the girl to her death yet.

Itachi didn't know any of the specifics of what Hinata was doing but he knew somehow this was part of her 'master' plan so he would just let her do what she's doing and do his best to keep the suspicion off of her. Taking on Pein and Madara would be suicide so he will do whatever it takes to protect her and help her accomplish whatever she is trying to. He also knows Sasori is somehow connected to the situation but since Hinata seems to trust the puppet, or at least has him interested enough to not spill anything the elder Uchiha doesn't feel the need to take out the rogue just yet.

Kakuzu doesn't know who is causing the chaos but will do whatever to get his money so of Pein is giving him what he promised, Kakuzu will find and bury the thorn in their side. However, Hinata believes he if liable to be swayed if she can offer him a better deal.

"Dismissed."

—

_(Hinata POV on her mission)_

"I take it you are the three I paid for?" The daimyo scoffed, scrutinizing us with his eyes. "You look awfully young to be Akatsuki, and you…woman… you look more suited to be a whore than a ninja but I guess it doesn't matter as long as you don't screw up." Tobi held my hand, whispering about how Masumane is a 'bad boy and very mean.' This daimyo, Masumane Tenzen, oozes arrogance. Because he has money and power to burn, he sees himself above everybody else, that we are all just pawns for his bidding to make his life that much more cushy. I bowed slightly, pushing Suigetsu and Tobi down as well, the less time I have to spend with this asshole the better.

"Hello Tenzen-sama, I am Hinata Hygua the leader of this squad. What services do you require of the Akatsuki." My face was flat and I bit my tongue hard enough to draw blood so I didn't punch this asshole into next week.

"There is a small uprising in one of my lands and you three, being led by me and my men will crush them. I'm going destroy their will to ever try stand out against me." He clenched a fist in the air, malice in his eyes. There was a sword at his hip, his land was that of civilians, ruled more similar to that of a Warlord in the Sengoku era than like the normal feudal lords of Shinobi lands. Hiring ninja over his samurai and warlords would buy him an undisputed victory, the village we are supposed to crush stands no chance.

"If your this much of a prick with everyone, no surprise they want to overthrow you." I mumbled under my breath just loud enough for Suigetsu and Tobi to hear, Tobi giggled and Suigetsu smirked in agreement. "We are at your disposal Tenzen-sama." I stated placidly, ready to get this over with.

"That is exactly how a lapdog should respond, make my money worth it."

"Woah, you must think your big shit, calling ninja like us lap dogs. Keep talking like that and I will-" I put my hands over Suigetsu's mouth stopping him from making us lose a job for putting the bastard in his place. Masumane's eyes were narrowed at us and he scoffed.

"Keep that boy in his place, girl." The tall warlord spun, making his cape flutter behind him as he stalked away. His nose was in the air and his men followed behind him, none of them having the aura of loyalty like they should with their leader. They seemed more terrified than anything, I could see the tenseness in their shoulders and the tremble of their hands as we followed along, heading towards the small farming village planning the uprising.

"You see it don't you?" I whispered to my teammates, nodding towards the men walking in front of us.

"Yeah, these men are terrified of that arrogant fucker Masumane. None of them look like warriors, they were shaking like leaves." Suigetsu responded, casually strolling with his hands behind his head.

"Hmm, Tobi thinks something suspicious is going on."

"I think you're right."

"Yay Tobi is a good boy!" We were marched through the town until we reached vast farmlands with small huts built every few acres. There were people out on their porches as we walked, they held their children behind their backs and cowered away from the harsh glare Masumane shot them. This place was…off. A daimyo is supposed to provide for their lands, to have their loyalty and bring his people prosperity but Masumane seems to be the exact opposite. Nobody should be that afraid of their ruler, no matter how terrible the person is. Even Pein, somebody who as of now is a harsh man, cares for his village and his people love him. They feel safe but this, this is all wrong.

We made it to the largest home in the center of the farmlands. Masumane pulled his sword and raised it high in the air.

"Men, draw your weapons, have no mercy. Crush those who oppose me and you will receive this towns rations to provide for your families." Swords, Bows, and spears were all at the ready, none of the men looked ready for a fight, they were shaking but they held firm in wait. There was a loud yell and men, all clad in the most makeshift armor came running in, all armed with tools for farming. Each and every man had a fire burning brightly in their eyes, the fire of somebody fighting for their life. Masumane brought his sword down on the leader of the revolt and before they could clash, I held each blade in my hands. Blood dripped down my palm but the pain meant nothing.

"Tenzen-sama, your men are unfit for a battle. Do they even know how to wield the weapons they carry? I do not want to join a battle where lives are worthlessly lost."

"They know exactly what they are doing, why they are fighting for me." He talked around the question answering but not directly, the most obvious sign of somebody hiding something. I turned my burning gaze from Masumane to his soldiers.

"Tell me the truth, are any of you trained soldiers?" I locked eyes with a boy who couldn't have been much older than me. His eyes flickered away from mine and he fidgeted nervously before opening his mouth.

"N-no. We are all f-farmers, Tenzen-sama is holding our rations captive so we will fight for him. I have a little sister at home, she needs food so I will fight for her to live!" The men we were supposed to be taking down dropped their weapons to their sides.

"We are revolting because Tenzen-sama takes out crops for his own pleasure and does not pay, our home is going broke and we've had enough but none of us will fight those who are in the same situation as we are." The man whose axe I was gripping continued speaking, his furious glare never leaving Masumane. "I will not be responsible for taking a man's life when he was trying to help his family survive." He dropped the axe.

"Now men attack them, leave no survivors!" Masumane released the hilt of his sword and ran away from the battle, leaving his men to fight on his behalf. Suigetsu and Tobi were at my side in an instant, a cheeky grin on the formers face but his bright eyes were hard and narrowed. He had Kiba unsheathed and he released a massive amount of KI, baring his sharp teeth.

"Stand back and drop your weapons, this battle is over." Everyone stopped in fear and dropped their weapons. Tobi came sauntering back, dragging Masumane by his lilac fur lined Uchikake **(outer layer of a kimono usually fancy embroidered and has plating if for battle)**.

"Tobi caught the bad man!"

"Good job Tobi-kun." Suigetsu walked behind Masumane and put his pointer finger right against the man's temple, making the shape of a gun. "Cowardly scum like you are the type I like the least, leaving these men to fight for you while you cower like a little bitch." Suigetsu turned to me with a feral glint in his normally amused and relaxed eyes. "So Boss Lady what should I do?"

"Finish him."

"Wait… please…I will give you anything you desire! Money, fame, women! Anything just don't kill me!" He begged, tears streaming down his face as he looked for sympathy from anybody around him, just one person to speak on his behalf. Nobody did, they all looked away. He didn't deserve mercy. He ruined all of these innocent peoples lives for his benefit, to feed is greedy desires at the expense of others. He was nothing but scum, scum so low that he ran when he asked the others to fight. He ran to save his own life without caring about anybody else here. He's no leader, he doesn't deserve anything but death. I turned my head when Suigetsu completed his job.  
"Bang." With a swiftness only he had, Suigetsu released a spurt of water from his fingers, it moved so fast it impaled through the soft flesh of the temple, then through the skull and killing Masumane on the spot, his body falling limp to the ground. The villagers all began to cry and surrounded us, each one gripping our hands and thanking us.

"Thank you so much Akatsuki! You saved our lives, you are our heroes." The men we were supposed to fight alongside cheered.

"Yes we thank you, anything we have, you can use it. If you ever need somewhere to stay we are open for your use." Yukimaru, the leader of the revolt, thanked us, bowing low enough to touch the ground. Suigetsu was basking in the glory, Tobi was giggling happily, dancing around and cheering along with the farmers.

"Thank you, but this was nothing, it wasn't fare for any of you to be ruled by that asshole. Just make sure to elect a ruler worthy of the title and care for your families."

"Y-you are an A-angel Hinata-hime. I am S-saru I would like to personally t-thank you. You p-protected us w-when you didn't have to. Y-you've made it p-possible for m-me to care for my sister and give her a b-better life." He placed a Kiss to the back of my hand and smiled sweetly, he was blushing heavily being shy and it was adorable. "THANK YOU SO MUCH!" He shouted out nervously, his green eyes were not close to making contact with mine. I giggled at him and he relaxed slightly.

"You're a good brother, give this to your sister and show her she is a princess." I took off the red ribbon I kept my hair back with and handed it to him. "Take care of her ok?" I gave him the best smile I could and he blushed even brighter before rushing away.

The mission, although a failure of sorts, made me feel like some of the darkness plaguing my soul was lifted. Being able to help those people, seeing the gratitude of us being able to help them was amazing. They refused to let us leave without getting paid so we accepted half of our original price and they gave us the best meal I had ever eaten in my life.

"Man, if this is the type of treatment being a good guy gets, I see the appeal. Ladies love me, eh Hinata-chan."

"Ahh you're such the lady killer." I laughed, my head resting against Suigetsu's shoulder and Tobi laying his head in my lap while I ran my fingers through his hair. He was resting against a tree happily patting his full stomach. He still had a dopey smile on his face from all the kisses he receive from all the civilian women, to them he was an exotic cutie that was their hero. Even Tobi got a few kisses, I thought he was going to faint and he kept muttering about how he was 'saving his kisses to be good for Deidara-sempai.' I almost peed my pants from laughing when he said it.

—

_(3d person POV)_

Tobi was conflicted. That mission he saw the compassionate side of Hinata, the one that extended beyond her teammates and to the care she held for all people. It was so endearing, she was truly somebody who would want the same thing as him: a better world. But with that, it made him confused on why she was still with the Akatsuki. She joined to find Orochimaru and now that that is over she has no reason to stay. She is too kind for them, even with the darkness he can see lingering in her soul, that look of being lost and lonely was something they all had but she didn't seem to belong with the criminals. And with the way she acts, he is suspicious of her. She cares so much for everyone else lives that it is possible that she is the one warning the jinchuriki, she was close with that one-tails kid so just maybe she's the one spoiling his and Madara's plans.

Tobi needed to find out, he wants to think otherwise, to believe that Hinata could be one to help mend his heart on the path to bringing Rin back and save this broken world. But if she was the traitor, he would complete what he failed those years back when she was nothing but an upstart and take the girl out. There was still something about her, something off that he needed to figure out. Hinata was interesting, she was kind and beautiful, but she was trouble. Even with all of his suspicions, he couldn't help but let himself relax into her touch, it was caring and soft. He wanted this feeling to last longer so he let himself nuzzle into her, just to be a bit closer to the warmth of her aura.

"Tachi I think its time we go back to Konohagakure. You're getting weaker every day and I can't do anything about it here." My back was pressed against his headboard as I played with his long nimble fingers. He was resting beside me with a cold compress against his eyes. Now was the only time I could think of for this working out the best. Everyone is at the same hideout and I can hopefully convince most, if not al of them to come with me. I've spent enough time with everyone, I love them all and need them to survive, to come with me.

"Aa. I agree. How exactly do you plan on getting out of here. Madara-sama is not going to let us go without a fight." I traced a tomoe on his palm over and over, trying to collect my thoughts on how this was all going to go down. I'm completely in the dark and this is either going to end well or terribly. I honestly don't know what scenario is going to play out and that terrifies me. I want everyone to come with me, I want to prevent the war from taking so many lives, I don't want the people I have spent the last few years of my life with to die needlessly.

"Well...uhm…leave that to me. I have a plan, its shaky and terrible but it's going to get us home." I grinned sheepishly and squeezed his hand with mine. Tobi, Pain, and Konan wont try to kill us if I convince them to come with.

"If it is anything that puts you in danger I cannot permit you to do it." His lips were pressed into a firm line and his grip tightened on my fingers warningly.

"When do my plans ever put me in danger?" I asked rhetorically. Even with his eyes covered I knew he rolled his eyes. "Ok but when have they failed? I promise we will make it out of this alive. I'm going to talk to everyone else, wait for me here." He took a deep inhale and removed the cloth from his tired eyes. The deep onyx orbs were boring into my own with such intensity. They morphed into a glowing red as they narrowed into a glare. "Tachi?"

"You are so foolish, you trust without reason and that is going to be your downfall." His tone was low, demanding, harsh and it made me match his glare with one of my own.

"What the hell are you talking about, I don't trust people uselessly Tachi. Besides, none of the other members are going to try anything and if they did, I'm strong enough to protect myself."

"Thats no excuse! You're still a girl, no matter how strong you are, there are men stronger." Itachi moved quickly, too quick for me to react, and I was pinned beneath him, he ripped through my shirt easily and he glared down at me. I shivered in a mix fear and anger. What the fuck is happening. "You let your guard down and I could have taken advantage of you. Stop being so trusting, stop looking for the good in everyone. Do you really think people like Hidan or Deidara are worth saving, that if they were in my place right now they wouldn't take advantage of you?" Itachi was talking in a mix of a growl and a yell as he used his body to keep me pinned beneath him, I couldn't move a muscle.

"Dammit, stop it! Just fucking stop for a second. Don't do this pushing other people away thing again! Stop trying to make yourself the bad guy, you did it with us before you left so don't start doing it now, you being selfless just makes you a jerk." I yelled at him. "You're going to be forgiven and thats final. and especially don't do it to people I trust! I get it, I'm not the strongest but that doesn't matter, I'd give my life for you and Hidan and everyone else and I hope they'd do the same. If that makes me an idiot then so be it, but don't make me hurt because of it, and don't try to make my trust in you waver. I'm leaving here with you, I know it would be safer to go home by myself but I don't care!" Tears were brimming in my eyes and no matter how hard I tried to keep them from spilling over, the cool liquid flowed down my cheeks in anger.

I pounded against his chest until his Sharingan swirled back into his pools of inky darkness and he lifted his weight off of me, pressing his forehead against mine. He wiped the tears from my eyes and handed me my cloak to cover up.

"I apologize for my behavior but I need you to fully confident in your actions and your trust in the others. I will have faith in you Hinata-hime. You cannot die. Promise me, promise me for Sasuke-kun that you will not die." His tone was low and soft but I could feel the plea. Itachi trusted me, even with all his worries, I made sure to always follow through the best I can and his belief in me was stronger than the fear that I was going to die today.

"I promise I won't die." He relaxed beside me and let out a soft sigh. "So while you go meet with Kisame-Semapi, Suigetsu, and Jūgo I'm going to put on clothes that haven't been ripped and then go convince the others. Please keep Zetsu off my ass for a bit if possible." I flopped off the bed and let out a short laugh.

"Hn."

"So will you come to Konoha with me?" My head was resting in my hands as I sat face to face with the smirking magenta eyed Jashinist.

"Why the fuck not. I can keep sacrificing assholes for Lord Jashin, get to fuck with that bastard Zetsu's goals, and I'm going to fucking make you love me I'm in. Even if Konohagakure is filled with bleeding heart pansies." He grinned coyly and I smiled back. Hidan was one who I was almost positive that would come with me. As long as he can provide for his lord he'd be ok with going anywhere and it helps that he is one of the ones I am closest to here. I told him the general plan and where he was supposed to meet the others, and even for a dumbass he understood it easily. I smirked and leaned forward. "You know you're fucking hot when you get all commanding."

"Thank you." I pressed my lips against Hidan's cheek before pulling away, my face was slightly warm but Hidan's reaction was priceless. His eyes were wide and blank, his cheeks were blushing and he had a dopey smile. Not only that, he was completely speechless, something I never thought possible for the loudmouth. I turned around and walked off to find Kakuzu while Hidan snapped back to reality and started screaming.

"What the fuck hot bitch, you can't just do that and leave!"

"What do you want kid?" Kakuzu huffed out, his voice gruff and his dual colored eyes never strayed from the money in his hands.

"What if I told you I could help you make more money than you do now and you won't have to share it with the rest of the Akatsuki." I smiled coyly as he stopped counting and finally looked at me. I had piked his interest and the fact that he hasn't tried to kill me yet means I don't piss him off as much as like Hidan or Deidara. He raised a brow and sat back comfortably, telling me to talk. "I'm leaving the Akatsuki."

"You are going to die." He scoffed like I was an idiot.

"Wait, I'm not finished. You should come with me. If you join us, I will give you majority of my savings. If you add up the money from being an heiress and from over 200 D-rank missions, it is all yours. As well as half of the money from each bounty that is even greater if you are doing it under the jurisdiction of Konohagakure. You also wouldn't have to share your money as funding for an entire organization, it would all be yours." He leaned forward, eyes narrowed in thought. To him it sounded like a suicide mission and he had pieced together that I was the one to have ruined the plans but before he was going to strangle me, he wanted to hear everything I had to offer. "I have it all planned out and we won't die. Actually, if you stay in the Akatsuki you're going to die and that's a promise, and like you know, I always seem to know more than I should." Kakuzu hummed in thought, his fingers methodically counting through the Ryo in his hand.

"I'm interested. How do you plan on leaving without getting killed?" I explained the plan, leaving room for error if certain people don't come but it was thought out enough that hopefully it would work, especially if it comes down to a battle and we have a heavy hitter like Kakuzu. "Hmm you actually think things through…unlike my idiot partner. Your plan is extremely thought out, guess you're not as dumb as you look kid. I'm in."

"Does this mean you'll finally let me touch your threads too?" I asked excitedly, jumping up to hug him, but he put a hand out and shoved me away. Man this must be how Tobi feels.

"The only time you'll be touching them is when they're ripping your heart out." He responded nonchalantly, making me huff but the grin was still wide on my face. He's coming, I mean I just lost a shit ton of money but it's worth it. I cant wait to introduce Kakuzu to Shikamaru, I feel like it will be a friendship made in hell.

"You're so cold to me old man." I shrugged. "Pack up what you want to bring and meet everyone at the spot. Don't get caught by Zetsu." he raised an eyebrow at the one I want him to avoid but said nothing more.

"Why would I go with a brat like you? If I turn you in, you'll become my puppet." Sasori's cold eyes looked into mine like he was studying me, studying my every reaction. Something he seems to do whenever we're together. I gave him the plan, and he asked me about whether or not I was the one warning the Jinchuriki. Though a few didn't listen to me, most did. I told him the truth and asked him to come with me.

"That thing, that reason you so desperately want to be empty, that reason you want to be void of any and all feelings. I don't understand it. I get the not wanting to have all the shitty feelings but to get rid of feeling good too? I don't know if I'll ever understand it but I want to try. I've made it my job to understand it and more than that, I'm going to get you to want to keep your feelings so that you'll be able to experience joy, love, happiness, excitement. Come with me, I'll keep things interesting, I'll help you discover what you are missing so you don't want to be numb anymore, and most of all I'll be able to keep you alive. And, if by the end of the year I haven't helped you feel any want towards keeping your humanity, I will find a way for you to fully become a human puppet with no feeling."

Sasori's entire expression shifted from its blank, partially aggravated look to one of confusion and surprise. His lips parted slightly and his eyes were no longer lidded, instead they were boring into mine fully focused trying to see if I was lying at all. I gave him the most honest smile I could, though him staring at me like that made me slightly uncomfortable. He broke our eye contact and let out a soft, frustrated sigh. His fingers pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You- ah. Brat don't look so eager." His hand dragged down his face and he relented. "Fine, I'm coming with you but don't expect me to change. And as soon as you die, your mine."

"Deal." Instead of selling my soul to the devil, I sold it to a sociopathic puppeteer… sweet. I had him shake my hand to seal the deal, his wood was so smooth, it felt almost more like silk than wood.

"This should be interesting. Get out so I can pack up and leave. Hurry up and gather the rest, not that they are going to come with someone as idiotic as you."

"Yeah yeah, you love me." I smiled cheekily and blew him a kiss, glad that he didn't throw a poisoned senbon at me to get me to leave like last time. That was not fun, I was throwing up for a week.

"Get. Out." I put my hands up and hustled out of the room, missing Sasori's perplexed look as he brushed against where I touched.

_(3d Pov)_

"No un."

"Please?"

"I can't. A hidden village doesn't respect my art un. They don't understand greatness yeah. With the Akatsuki, I'm free to pursue my art to the fullest and get gratitude for its amazingness. People here respect my art more than when I was ever in Iwa un."

"What about me Dei? I respect your art, who here really respects your art? huh, who actually thinks what you do is art and isn't just playing along to amuse you and get you to do what they want? Tell me, other than getting to kill whoever you want, what is the difference between this and a village?"

"Hinata-chan…" He was at a loss for words, she was slightly right. The Akatsuki, other than him still being considered a rogue and being accepted for his terrorism, wasn't too different from the hierarchy. However, he hated Iwa, the village suppressed his skills and ignored his art and he didn't want to go back to a life like that. In the Akatsuki, he was free to use his art and he was praised for it.

"No Dei, listen. You're my best friend here, I need you. If we are on opposite sides we're going to end up fighting and I don't think I can kill you. If I can't somebody else will and then what. I just lose my best friend because he's a hardheaded idiot! Who else is going to take me flying and then push me off into a bunch of trees? Who else is going to join me in messing with Sasori without getting murdered? Who is going to blow shit up with me when I'm bored? Nobody Dei, thats what I do with you and I don't want to give that up. Do you?" That was a loaded question and they both knew it.

Deidara stared at Hinata, taking in her teary eyed expression as she spoke with such passion for him, about him. For Deidara, the Hyuga princess was a firecracker. She was loud and unpredictable since the first time he saw her. She truly was his best friend. He would mess with her just to get a rise out of her. Her emotions were always blazing and she would always do something different each time. He loved that unpredictability. She was vibrant like the flames of a fire yet dark like when a smoke plume blocked out the sun, she was wild and free, fierce and dangerous, yet she was loving and kind. She was beautiful, the human embodiment of his art.

He never found himself wanting to blow her up, even when she was so close to that dammed Uchiha. He wanted to keep experiencing all the new things she had to offer. She was right when she said she never looked down on him or his art. he can remember the first time he showed it to her, the way her eyes lit up and reflected the burn of the blast. She said it was cool, she loved it when he would do fun things with his art and he did it because he loved it and he loved the way she loved it. She was undisputedly one of the only people he was friends with. He respected Sasori, he enjoyed spending time with his Danna and would classify them friends of sorts but she was something else. She kept him on his toes and he loved it.

He didn't like the dejected expression on her face. It made him feel a twang of hurt that he didn't know he could feel. She didn't want him to die, that much was obvious and Deidara never really cared about dying as long as it was with a bang, turning himself into his art but seeing her so sad about his death. He could feel himself finding a will to live. Though, the thought of joining a village held him back. He couldn't go back to that shitty life, not ever again. Deidara put his hand on her and pulled her into a hug, planning on saying a hesitant goodbye. He could feel her slightly cool skin against his warmth and she squeezed him tighter, her tears leaking out. It hurt so damn much for her to say goodbye, she didn't want to say goodbye.

"I don't want to lose you to some evil organization that doesn't truly care about you, they don't even care enough to let you know who the real leader is." She could feel he was on the fence and leaning towards no, she needed to tell him the truth in hopes of getting him to come with her, getting him to live.

"What the hell are you on about un?"

"Tobi is the leader of the Akatsuki." Deidara busted out into uncontrollable laughter.  
"That dumbass un? No way." He thought she was joking until he took in her expression, she was not kidding.

"Tobi is an alias for Madara Uchiha, one of the strongest Shinobi ever to exist. One that could even make Leader-sama, someone with a fucking Rinnegan, lose." She looked up from his chest and into his visible blue eye, gaging his expression.

"That bastard has been playing me for a fool! I hate fucking Uchiha un. Dammit, I'm going to blow him to hell!" He was fuming, feeling like he was played for an idiot. That asshole just played with him while he was probably laughing about it, it was infuriating. He released her and was ready to blow a fuse, but she gripped a tight hold on his arm.

"Fine, I'm coming with you hmm. No way I'm serving under a bastard like him un." Hinata knew she was fucked if she could convince Tobi to join them, but that was a future Hinata problem.

_(Hinata POV)_

I couldn't breathe. The icy cold hand of Pein was wrapped around my throat and my back was slammed into the nearest wall hard enough to produce cracks around the impact point. Konan had paper shuriken aimed at me from all directions and without being able to do the _Revolving Heaven_ I would not be able to avoid them all. This conversation went way worse than I was hoping it would. Apparently people don't like being told their being manipulated and instead of listening, they only took the fact that I was leaving and now I'm kind of in a terrible situation.

Pein was cold, his Rinnegan was scary, actually really terrifying. I looked over to Konan and the cold mask she always had on was gone. She looked sad, worse, she looked betrayed. Konan had become like a big sister. She took care of me when I was sick and at the anniversary of my mothers death she took me out and showed me around the village. She was so cold but always kind to me and to see her glare and ready to kill me was awful.

"You have betrayed the Akatsuki. You have stalled our goals, what do you have to say for yourself before you die?" His hands loosened on my throat so I gulped in a breath.

"Konan-nee I-" his hand squeezed tighter and my oxygen was cut off.

"Don't address her. You are speaking with me and me alone."

"Fuck. I'm trying to protect you. What happened to the Akatsuki that was formed by some war orphans. Kids who wanted to change the world and find peace? Just because you lost Yahiko and were manipulated to become something darker, you really are willing to forget what he died for?" I was dropped to the floor and Konan's hand went to cover her mouth. Something I said resonated with her.

"How do you know that name?" Pein's deep, commanding voice was unwavering and deadly.

"I can't tell you that but please, Nagato-sama, do you really care so little about what your initial goal was? Are you so willing to change it with Yahiko gone?"

"Konan, kill her."

"Pein-sama she's-" Her eyes looked at the paper butterfly in my hair then looked into mine and I understood exactly what she was feeling. She considered me the same way I considered her but her loyalty lies with Pein. I'm not Naruto so nothing I do or say would change his mind. I smiled at her and she gave me a sad one back. Someday some how I am going to be reunited with her and we will be together, she can teach me more and she will join my family. She's my big sister. A single tear fell from her eye before her smooth, cool and comforting like rain chakra fluctuated and was ready to attack.

"Kill her."

"Of course Pein-sama." I prepared myself to move, I couldn't die here. I had to make it to Itachi no matter what injuries I sustained. I promised. Right when the shuriken were going to pierce my flesh, I was warped away. My entire body felt like it was scrambled as I hit the cool ground, only a few of the smallest of cuts marring my skin. Tobi appeared before me and gripped my hair in his hand, bringing me eye level with him. I could see the red glow of the Sharingan behind the single hole in his mask. I was in the kamui dimension.

"Ahh I was wondering when you were going to come for me _Tobi-kun_." I smiled and he pulled my hair back my neck stretching painfully with it.

"Hi Hinata-chan!" It was the same greeting that Tobi normally gave me but his voice was deep and scary. It almost seemed wrong out of his mouth that I had grown so accustomed to being high and jovial. "You've really been a thorn in my side. I was hoping it wasn't you, I quite like you. You are loyal and an embodiment of the type of people I want in my new world but as it stands. I'm going to have to kill you, or perhaps force you into obedience."

"First things first. How much do you truly know, it seems you know even more than I believed you did."

"So I could tell you I know nothing but we both know that would be a lie. Hmm how about I tell you the time when we first met and you stabbed me, a lot actually. Or I could go even further than that and tell you about the time when you were supposed to die. It was by a big ass boulder saving Kakashi right _Obito-kun_? Or even how you are just another pawn in the scheme of things. Ahh But you see, if I tell you any of this I want answers of my own. Like why you are trying ruin the entire fucking world over a girl who would totally not approve of this" The hold on my head tightened and a Kunai was placed at my throat. Apparently Rin is a no-no topic. "Or how you are in contact with Madara when he is actually dead." I smirked, this was a gamble but like most antagonists or men who have their heart broken: they love to talk. Obito's laugh started out slow and deep like he was impersonating Madara then it lightened an octave to what I'm guessing is his normal voice but instead of being sweet or humorous. It was dark, scary, I could feel myself tremble in the slightest at the tone. It was truly terrifying.

"I always knew you were special when I didn't kill you all those years back, but this is something else entirely. You know things nobody else does, with knowledge like that you could take over the world, you can rule at my side in the new, peaceful world. But what do you chose, to be kind? to go back to those leaf idiots and try to save the pitiful lives of people who you can bring back if you would just stay with me? It's unreasonably optimistic. You have a light and it needs to be extinguished, you need to see the horrors of the world, then maybe you would join my side. Who do I have to kill first to do that. Hidan? Perhaps Itachi." He seemed to hesitate for a second before the kunai in his hand slashed down my right shoulder, over the collarbone and down to my ribcage. I screamed at the pain as blood began to flow out of my body, warming my skin with the warm coppery liquid.

"Don't You even dare of touching them. I wan't you alive, I want you to see the good and go back to Kakashi, to live a life out of the darkness but if you even so…think of hurting them I will…" I couldn't continue as he pressed his fingers into the cut and I cried out in pain as the fire burning sensation flowed through my whole body.

"I'll play your little game now that you're less inclined to move or lie to me. You tell me what I want to know and I'll tell you what you want to know." Obito explained the special dimension Madara got sent to at his death, something to do with the Rinnegan that I didn't quite understand but apparently it allows Obito and Madara contact even beyond the grave where Madara gives Obito information and things to do. 'Now I would like to know why you think I'm being manipulated?" He added another slash to the same area, deepening the wound.

"Since your not a dumbass I know you know Madara is using you to come back to life but with how little you give a shit that doesn't matter. What's interesting though is that even your precious Madara is being manipulated by none other than Black Zetsu who is the will of the founder of Chakra in humans, Kaguya Otsutsuki, who is… going to use whoever brings back the 10 tails to bring herself back to life. Zetsu will kill you or Madara, depending on how things play out and then… Kaguya will come back and try to destroy the world for no reason other than she is a selfish and psychotic bitch." I gasped out my words, my right side still stinging from white hot pain. "So just…ah…come back home with me. Live the life Rin would have wanted you to live. Kill Zetsu, forget about the Infinite Tsukuyomi and just live. Find a reason for you to live, find a way to repair your broken heart. Ruining everyone else's lives won't… fix anything."

"DON'T SPEAK LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT RIN-CHAN WOULD WANT!" I braced myself for a hit but it never came. "You ignorant girl. The Infinite Tsukuyomi is going to save the world, it is going to save humanity from itself and nobody will every have to die like Rin-chan did. If anybody stands in the way of that they will die, Zetsu included. So if what you says is true, I can be merciful. You can leave, take those others with you and if Zetsu is not who you said he is, I will kill everyone you love in front of you and I will bring you right back to my side. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind. Be ready, for the only reason you are still living is because you are useful to me so even if you are home, you are _mine_ to use." Obito's Sharingan flared and my body was scrambled once more. I was unceremoniously dropped from the sky right onto Suigetsu, who turned into water at the impact, my blood staining it red. I moved away from him and puked on the ground. I looked towards Itachi who was at my side in an instant and gave him a bloodied thumbs up.

"Ohh fuck me that hurt, but... I'm alive and we're free to go."

"Ahh Hinata-chan you got your blood all over me! Oh, shit!" He stopped complaining when he got a sight of me puking and bloody. "Man, who smacked you around?"

"What the fuck happened to you?" Hidan got on the side Itachi wasn't occupying and dragged his hand along the wound lightly, letting me lean into his bare chest. "No vital areas were severed so heal yourself up and stop being a pansy… Not that I mind you being all sexy and bloody."

"Yeah thanks, I did this just for your viewing pleasure." I rolled my eyes and gasped out a breath, placing my hands over my wound and letting my chakra flow out to start healing the jagged cut. I focused on stitching the flesh back together as I looked at Itachi, Kisame, and Deidara who would all understand. "Tobi-kun isn't coming with us." Kisame's jaw was taught, the muscles tensing and rippling as he clenched his teeth together. Itachi's face was blank but his eyes were hardened and spoke volumes of him saying "I told you so."

"That little fucker did this?" Hidan was confused and slightly impressed at the knowledge but I was more focused on Deidara. The blonde looked the most pissed off at the statement, his eye was narrow, his pupil so contracted it almost disappeared in his iris. I mouthed to him 'I'll explain later.' He glared at me but said nothing else then made a bird to fly to Konoha on. He shot off into the sky and let a few trees blow up as he hovered high above us. He clearly wasn't going to make the rest of us one so we all were going to have to go by foot. My wound was going to be slow to heal and there was only so much I could do with just ninjutsu. Itachi was prepared to carry me but Hidan butt in.

"Back off Uchiha-fucker I'll carry the hot bitch." He snapped, baring his teeth slightly to Itachi as he shoved the Uchiha's hands away from me.

"Hn." Itachi was ready to ignore it and just lift me up but I stopped him, gripping at his shirt. his Sharingan was still blazing and I could see by the sweat on his brow how taxing it was for him. Adding carrying me to the mix would just be stupid, I didn't want to put any more stress on his deteriorating body than what is there already.

"Just let Hidan do it. You're sick enough, you don't need me to add on to your weak condition." I whispered in his ear and he nodded. I looked to Hidan, annoyed I needed help at all but he was quick to lift me up and cradle me in a way I could continue to heal myself. Hidan smugly looked to everyone else and I stifled a laugh at his cocky expression. Kakuzu looked at me and I could see the smirk in his eyes, he knew it would end up something like this. I hoped it would end better but at least I'm not dead.

"Oi brat." A gruff voice called out. It took me a second to figure out it came from Sasori because I became so used to hearing his normal, softer voice.

"Huh. Oh what do you want Sasori?" His tail launched a roll of fresh bandages at me and faced the back of Hiruko towards me so he didn't have to meet my eyes. I cocked my head slightly in confusion at his actions but oh well, who knows with the puppet from Suna. "Thanks Sasori!" I smiled brightly and then it faded when I realized I had nothing to cover me as I dress my wounds since our cloaks are long gone. Suigetsu noticed my plight and smirked.

"You can always just wrap yourself up with us around, I'm sure none of us would mind." He raised a hand up for Jūgo to get a high five but then lowered it and pouted as he was denied.

"I'm sure you wouldn't." I stuck my tongue out him and he winked before chuckling. I let out a soft laugh as well.

"Hinata-hime, you can go wrap yourself in the woods. I will have the birds keep watch and they will alert us of anything suspicious."

"And this is why you're my favorite Jūgo. Thank you!" I smiled brightly at him and he gave me a small one back before conversing with the birds that sat atop his shoulders.

"You are welcome." Oh my gosh he is so precious. He and Itachi make such a good duo, they are both pacifists and it is probably amazing for Jūgo to experience life free from his chains and not being forced to kill all the time.

"I thought I was your favorite little Orokamono." His dark eyes were trained on me and he had a mirthful smirk on his blue skinned face.

"You're my favorite shark person."

"I'm the only shark you know." He deadpanned and I gave him a cheeky smile getting a sharp toothed smile in return. He reached his large hand out and gripped my head gently before ruffling my hair.

"Exactly, thats why you're my favorite." He rolled his eyes and went to stand beside Itachi after getting a look from the Uchiha to leave me alone so I can leave. "Hidan put me down." I looked pointedly towards the white haired Jashinist and he just licked his lips, pressing me tighter to his chest.

"Hell no." Threads pushed themselves from Kakuzu's skin and wrapped around Hidans neck making him splutter a gasp for air. They also wrapped around his arms and binded Hidan's arms to him, dropping me from his grip. Before I hit the ground, The threads wrapped around me and let me down more gently.

"Stop being a nuisance Hidan." Kakuzu turned to me and nodded, I gave him a thumbs up and limped slightly to the woods, only going in enough where nobody could see me. I carefully stripped off my shirt, and netting before using some cloth to wipe away the blood and assessing the wound. It wasn't very deep anymore and it seemed like it would only leave a tiny scar if that. I took a bit of the still dripping blood and used it to summon Sari.

"Hi Sari-chan."

"Oh My gosh Hinata-hime I am thankful for your summon but please summon Koji-kun instead, he can help heal you." She spoke worriedly, licking the blood off the edge of my wound.

"It's all right Sari-chan. I'm sorry to work you so hard recently but you are the fastest and I need you to get this letter to Lady Tsunade."

"I would be honored to help you Hinata-hime." I nuzzled her nose with mine and she nipped at me playfully. I tucked the letter speaking of our arrival… and that I was bringing a friend or two and Sari took off quickly, heading the direction of the leaf effortlessly weaving through the trees and underbrush.

Slowly, painfully I grit my teeth and wrapped the wound up with the bandages, tying it off at the end. Each movement was pretty painful and my vision was blurring in and out from the pain and blood loss but I stood up and made my way back to everyone, stumbling into Hidan. He lifted me onto his back and I gave him a grateful hum and nuzzled more into his warmth as he moved.

"Awe man, can somebody carry me too?" Suigetsu whined jokingly and I giggled as Hidan yelled back at him before getting whacked by Kakuzu. "Jūgo, buddy. You're a big strong guy, can you help me out?" Jūgo being the giant softie he is hoisted Suigetsu onto his back with ease and the Houzuki sighed in relief, passing out almost instantly. Hidan was going to shove him off but I stopped him. Kisame was talking about how he was going to see how far Zabuza has grown and got too riled up, Itachi was the one to reign him in. I watched everyone's interactions and smiled. This was like a giant, violent and murderous family that hopefully someday would be completed with the addition of Obito, Nagato, and Konan. Combining this hurricane of crazy with Konoha is going to be interesting to sat the least, especially now that there are also a few more jinchuriki residing there. When we get there, I'm hoping Deidara will be willing to talk to me finally. He's still flying above and I could just tell he was absolutely pissed.

"So hot bitch where the fuck are we staying when we get to the village? I'm sleeping with you right?"

"As much as I'd love to share a room with all of you… I'm going to be in my compound. I have a sister to take care of as well as resuming my duties as heiress and my clan elders are pretentious assholes who don't like outsiders…or other clan members so you're not staying with me. I..uh… haven't actually thought about where you are staying." Everyone stopped walking for a second and I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. I probably should have thought that through earlier but I pushed that as a future problem and knew Tsunade would help me figure something out.

"The Uchiha compound has not been torn down and with the permission from the Hokage you will all be residing there." Itachi cooly spoke up, saving my ass. Kisame's face looked just as shocked as I'm guessing mine did. I couldn't imagine him wanting to go home, it just sounds like another way to punish himself.

"Tachi, are you…are you sure you want to go back there?"

"Hn. It is my home, it is my burden to bare and I will not live anywhere else." He spoke and people listened, it was quiet but commanding and it was him saying that it was final. There was no room for argument, Kisame looked like he wanted to say something but one look from his partner and he said nothing. Everyone else seemed like that was a satisfactory place to live, Kakuzu was especially pleased because it was cheap and he wouldn't have to pay for housing like he would with an apartment complex or building a compound specifically for the Akatsuki to live in.

"Thank you for offering your home to me Itachi-sama." Jūgo bowed his head in thanks and Itachi's eyes softened with the large man. They were kindred spirits of peace.

"You are welcome Jūgo-kun."

After a quick nap for recovery, I was up and walking by myself. I felt slow and sluggish which was pissing Sasori off to the max. I was shoved by his tail at least five times and he kept telling me to hurry up or he'd knock me out and then we could move faster.

"Hey Sasori?" I flopped onto the broad and slightly curved back of his Hiruko shell. He grunted but didn't force me off, probably because then we could move a bit faster.

"What." His gruff voice barked out, but it sounded strained. I think I make him uncomfortable.

"What was your favorite food when you had to eat?" I tapped his shell along to random beats of songs I could remember while I tried to get him to talk to me more. I wonder if he's shy about talking about himself…well talking about anything other than how amazing his new body and stuff is. When he gets going, the pride flows out of him and just like Deidara he keeps talking until you agree or he gets annoyed.

"I was partial to chicken stew as a child." I kind of didn't expect him to respond so when he did it made me involuntarily smile. I rested on my stomach, my head in my hands as I could feel the joints of the puppet click each time he took a step. It was creepy and relaxing at the same time. I hummed in thought and then got the best idea on getting Sasori to hate me less, or at least to help him remember the good of his life.

"I've never had that before. I know food is unnecessary for you, but my sister is a really good cook and so I'll have her make it for you and we can eat it together." Sasori faltered in his movement, it was so faint I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't resting on top of him.

"Fine brat, if it will get you to shut up."

"Wow that's the most excited you've ever sounded to do something with me!" Sasori grunted and Kisame snickered behind us. I'm pretty sure everyone was amused at Sasori's reactions. It sure as hell was amusing for me too.

About a day and a half of travel, I decided we needed to take our first break. Itachi was pale and he looked feverish but he kept his head forward to not alert any of the other members. He stumbled slightly the longer we kept going and when Kisame tried to secretly aid him Itachi politely declined.

"Ok guys, we've been at it for a while. Lets take a break for a while and finish the rest of the journey later." Suigetsu cheered and hopped from Jūgo's back, grinning like he had to actually do some work. Hidan was the second to drop unceremoniously to the floor, happily resting up against a tree. Kakuzu hopped atop a tree branch and closed his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest and his breathing slowed almost immediately. Even Deidara swooped down and laid atop his bird, positioning it as far away from me as possible. Sasori headed to join Deidara, though he was grumbling about wasting time. Itachi and I found a relatively non-visible spot that I could do my best to heal him while he rested. He was too prideful to let others know of his illness and too kind to want people to be worrying about his condition.

I checked his eyes and sighed, his eyesight without the aid of the Sharingan was almost completely gone. His vision would barely allow him to see the blurry version of somebody's face even if they were right in front of him.

"You idiot."

"I know."

"I thought I told you to stop keeping it activated so often."

"I know." He sighed deeply and placed his hand against mine. "Please, make my vision last long enough that I can see Sasuke-kun one last time."

"You are gong to have to keep your eyes close the rest of the journey, you can't activate the Sharingan or put any type of strain on your eyes. Stand in the back with Kisame and he'll lead you the right way." Itachi has this invincibility complex like so many guys have and so the only way he listens is when I am commanding and direct with him. He is so literal that any leeway and he will take it in his own interpretation that allows him to do whatever he sees as beneficial for everyone else or harmful to himself.

"Aa."

"Just go to sleep dummy. I'll wake you up when its time to go." He rested his head on my shoulder and I ran my fingers through his dark hair, lulling him into a light yet peaceful sleep. He had a smile on his face and his shoulders were looser than they have been for years all because he was finally getting to go home and see Sasuke.

We made it into the Land of Fire and were only thirty-ish minutes outside of Konohagakure. I was practically skipping the closer we got an my cheeks were burning from smiling so hard. I was so excited to be home, I want to see Hanabi all grown and go visit babies with Choji. I want to train with my dad and I want to braid Neji's hair. I want to get a hug from Shisui and eat ramen with Naruto. I want to mess with Sasuke and spar with Kiba and Akamaru. I want to see new butterflies with Shino and cloud watch with Shikamaru. I want to finally unmask Kakashi and have a sleepover with Ino. I want to get beat up by Tsunade and finally convince Jiraiya to let me read Icha Icha. I want to stay up all night with Gaara and tease Naruto and Sasuke with Zabuza. I want to introduce all my old friends to my new ones and I just want to be home.

Just in the distance I could see the gates to the village and without a second thought I took off. When I skidded to a stop at the gate, Izumo and Kotetsu had their weapons raised towards me. Everyone else came in behind me and when they saw Itachi and the rest of the intimidating men behind, their faces went white as a sheet. Kisame let out a burst of his overwhelming chakra and it made them choke, making the shark and Hidan snicker. I shot him a look and he stopped. I bowed and handed them the letter Sari gave me from Tsunade allowing us entrance to the village and everyone was supposed to be escorted to the T&I building immediately. I got onto a knee and handed them the scroll.

"Hinata Hyuga and Itachi Uchiha, returned from the deep undercover. Mission Status: mostly successful." Izumo read over the scroll and Kotetsu kept his weapon at the ready. After confirming it was real, we were allowed into the village and were being led through when a familiar chakra basically flooded my body.

**A/n: This pic is adorable**

A large ball of white fluff pounced on me and sent me sprawling to the ground. I hissed at the impact of my shoulder but grinned nonetheless as a rough tongue licked up my face multiple times.

"Akamaru! You're so big oh my gosh." I couldn't wrap my arms around the puppy who used to fit on my head and instead I hugged the canine tightly as he barked happily. I giggled as he stayed on top of me, licking my cheek and I scratched behind his ears getting a happy whine. He licked at my shoulder, smelling the wound but I told him it was ok, getting another happy bark.

"Akamaru where'd ya run off to boy…" Kiba looked at Akamaru attacking me, only able to see the blue strands of my hair. He took a sniff and then another, recognizing it instantly before moving Akamaru off me and pulling me into a ferocious hug as well. Kiba was a great deal taller than me now and definitely a lot stronger. He pressed his nose into the top of my head and inhaled before laughing loudly. "I could never mistake that wet grass smell for anyone else, even if you stink of blood." He rubbed his fist into my skull.

"And you still smell like fleas, dog boy." Akamaru barked in agreement and Kiba shot him a look of betrayal. I grinned smugly, the pup has always had my back.

"Least I'm not a shrimp." I swatted at him but he just laughed jovially. "Man, I can't believe you're home. I was so pissed when you left and only gave me a damn letter."

"Kinda had no choice." I motioned to the people behind me and he nodded, his eyes narrowing into slits before turning back to me and smiling, exposing his sharp canines.

"Wait 'til ma hears you're home. She's gonna flip."

"It feels like forever since I've seen her and Hana. Speaking of forever, where's Shino?" I winked at Kiba and he glared at me, his cheeks blushing a faint pink. At least that means they are still together.

"He's on a mission with his father right now but he said he'll be back tomorrow so we can all go out! We can even stop by to see Kurenai-sensei, you won't believe how fat she's gotten now that she's pregnant."

"Heck yeah! I knew her and Asuma-Sensei would finally do the deed." Hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me behind the half-naked form of Hidan. Note to self, get him clothes that involve shirts and don't make him look like a pimp.

"Who the fuck is this mutt."/"Who the hell is this guy?!" They shouted at the same time, glaring at one another. Akamaru and Kiba both growled while Hidan's hand went to grip at his scythe. God, why am I friends with such hot headed people who think violence is always the best way to get somebody to talk.

"As fun as this testosterone fest is…both of you… Stand. Down." I swiftly moved between the two and put my hand on Akamaru to calm down the pup. He instantly relaxed when he knew there was no threat but Kiba and Hidan were still tense and glaring at one another. I slapped my hand to my forehead and pointed between the two wild boys. "Kiba this is Hidan. Hidan this is Kiba." Hidan relaxed and smirked haughtily and we all tensed to see what offensive thing was going to come out of his mouth this time.

"Oh so this is the gay-ass fucker." **(Get that double meaning and no offense to anyone who is gay or anything but like this is Hidan talking and everything no matter what kind of comes out offensive) **Kiba growled, already getting shit from other villagers and he didn't need some other creep giving him crap for who he loved either. I turned and punched Hidan, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Don't be an asshole, what happened to you saying things in a less dick-ish manner when you meet people."

"I was being nice dammit." He grinned up at me and slowly licked the blood that was dripping from his lip. "Shit, hot bitch I love when you hit me."

"Kakuzu." One word was all that was needed. The old geezer hit Hidan in the neck and the Jashinist went limp, I slyly handed Kakuzu 150 Ryo. Hidan was wrapped and immobilized in Kakuzu's tendrils and swung over Kakuzu's shoulder like a sack. Kiba gaped open mouthed at the display, Izumo and Kotetsu also looking on in a mix of horror and awe.

"No messing around." Kotetsu barked at us and now with a quieter group, we finished making it to the T&I department. The building was as dark and ominous as always, I could practically feel the sadistic laughter floating out of the place.

"Bye Hinata-chan, good to see you. I'm glad you're home even if you brought some…" He looked over the former Akatsuki members in confusion, "…weirdoes home with you." I laughed at the accuracy of his statement and gave him one more hug, he punched my shoulder amicably and I leaned down to let Akamaru give a sloppy lick to my cheek before Kiba mounted the dog and bounded off. We were all blindfolded, nobody putting up a fight, and led through a winding maze of hallways. My blindfold was ripped off and I fluttered my eyelids to adjust to the low lighting. There was a loud thump of Hidan hitting the floor and we all faced ahead and I jumped in fright at the _very _intense and accusatory glare Tsunade was sporting.

"Bringing home _just_ Itachi-san, stopping the Akatsuki from their evil deeds, huh? Is that why there are 4 Jinchuriki residing in my village on your orders?" She crossed her arms and tapped her fingers impatiently against her green jacket. I fidgeted in my spot, giving her a sheepish smile.

"Well, uh, you see Master…" She brought her fist down on the table next to her and it was crushed into pieces. She glared down everyone else with me and they just stared back, humored by my demeanor and impressed with her strength.

"I trust your judgement Hinata-chan, but if they pose even the slightest threat to the village, _you _are dealing with the repercussions. I've decided on plenty of new ways to make you useful since your mission." Her glare shifted and her pink lips curled into a devious smirk.

"Of course Lady Tsunade."

"Hinata Hygua and Itachi Uchiha, follow Inoichi into a separate room." I moved to grab Itachi's arm and lead him to where Inoichi was standing, his normally kind face was stone cold. Tsunade turned to the other members and narrowed her chocolate orbs menacingly. "You S ranked rogue ninjas are going to be interrogated thoroughly and that will determine whether or not you can receive solace from this village. It will be easier for all of us if you tell the truth." She spun on her heel, her cloak billowing behind her. "And somebody wake up the sleeping brat." Ibiki came out and cracked his knuckles as Itachi and I were escorted to another room. There were two chairs placed in the center while Anko and Tsunade were standing in the corner. Anko winked and I gave her a grin back.

"Long time so see kiddo. Glad to see you finally grew into that big mouth."

"Yeah, I'm sorry you didn't grow into yours." She chuckled and flipped a kunai in her hand and Itachi and I took our seats.

"Cheeky little shit."

"Hinata Hyuga, your mission was to halt the Akatsuki's ability to collect all 9 tailed beasts and bring home Itachi Uchiha so he can be pardoned of his crimes. What do you declare your mission?"

"The mission was a success Master." A smile played on my face as I answered, time to really fuck everything up.

"Glad to hear. From this moment forward, your undercover mission is declared complete and you are free to re-join your place in the village. You will be given your next mission later today." She was stern and commanding when she talked but there was also a warm twinkle in her hazel orbs.

"Thank you Master." I bowed my head slightly and Tsunade chuckled.

"Now that all that crap is done…come here brat." I grinned and wasted no time to let her ingulf me in a bone crushing hug. Even with my shoulder being sore, it didn't matter as I laughed happily into her chest. I was ever so thankful my head was no longer right at her bosom and wouldn't be suffocated by her. She moved my hair to the side slightly and smirked at the seal on my forehead."You did good kid. I'm happy to have you back."

"I'm happy to be back."

"Now, while we take care of the rest of your… friends. Go home, I'm sure you're itching to see your family. Be back here no later than one hour from now." She released me from a hug and pointed towards the door. I smiled brighter and bounced on the heels of my feet in excitement.

"Thank you!" I turned to Itachi and put my hand over his. "I'll be back and we can go find Sasuke together." He nodded his head and relaxed back into his seat.

"Hn." I left in a rush, spouting out a promise to go get Dango with Anko and Zabuza as soon as possible. When I left Tsunade stared down Itachi who still had his eyes closed.

"Itachi Uchiha, former ANBU, declared rogue after the massacre of the Uchiha clan. However, after finding out that Danzo Shimura was the one to orchestrate the entire execution as well as the attempted murder of Shisui Uchiha for the sake of gaining power. I, Tsunade Senju the 5th Hokage, declare you innocent of all charges against you and reinstate you as a Shinobi of Konohagakure. Before you can announce your return to the village, you will under go a psych evaluation."

"Aa. I understand. Thank you for your generous acceptance back into my home. I will do my best to protect and serve my home." He bowed his head cordially and allowed them to knock him out without so much as a flinch. Inoichi placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder and entered into his minds cape that for the first time, Itachi left fully open so they could explore his memories.

When Inoichi pulled out of Itachi's memories, there were tears in his eyes. Even as a hardened warrior, the things Itachi was forced to go through because of the village and his family was devastating. However, the love Itachi held for his brother and the place he should despise is so great, he truly embodies more than the will of fire, he embodies the spirit of peace. A verbal statement form the Yamanaka was given and Itachi was cleared as an asset to the village, if he could be healed from his sickness. That was the most worrisome thing but Hinata said she has a plan so they will have to hope it will work. Itachi doesn't deserve to die from something like a sickness after he has already had so many struggles. They woke the Uchiha up and Inoichi put a comforting hand on Itachi's shoulder.

"Itachi Uchiha, you truly are a hero and I want you to know that you have the support and thanks of the entire Yamanaka clan. We will stand behind you and make sire the rest of the village hails you like the hero you are." Itachi, humbly arrogant, didn't believe that he was a hero. He felt unworthy of the title of hero, he felt like a coward and deserved more hate. A manic depressive thought process that no matter what he couldn't get himself fully out of that mentality. Yet, with his supposedly limited time left in life, he would aid those worthy of being a hero to bring about a peaceful world for his little brother and the generations to come to live in.

"Your words are too kind Yamanaka-sama."

I moved quickly across the rooftops, my heart palpitating quicker and quicker the closer I got to the Hyuga compound. I was nervous, excited, happy. I had a slew of emotions and I all revolved around how much I loved my family and I couldn't wait to see all of them again. I scaled the wall to the compound and silently made my way to the center where my home resided. My chakra was suppressed, not that it would help with anybody using the Byakugan but hopefully I'd be able to make it inside before anybody tried to stop me. When I reached the front door I applied some of my chakra to the seal and the door slid open. One of the brach family members, my head maid Rukia, came to greet me at the door, probably expecting something else and her small placid expression moved from horror, to shock, to excitement.

"Hinata-Hime, is that really you?" She was breathless and smiling softly towards me, still in disbelief that I was home. It felt surreal to me as well.

"I'm home Rukia-san." She pulled me into a soft hug.

"You have grown into such a beautiful young lady. Your mother would be so proud." She released me and then brightened up. "Oh my gosh, I need to go alert Hanabi-hime and Hiashi-sama. They will be thrilled to know you are home. Neji-sama is out training with his team right now but he will be happy to have you home as well. Hanabi-hime has been waiting for you since you left." She clasped her hands and prepared to leave but I stopped her.

"Wait, please don't tell them it's me. Just make sure they come find me." I smiled excitedly, unable to contain the fluttering in my chest.

"Ohh how exciting. I will fulfill your wishes Hinata-hime, just wait here." She rushed off and I waited for a second before the almost silent patter of feet tapped against the tatami flooring. Hanabi stepped out of the hallway, composed as always. She was dressed in a training kimono decorated in lovely pale purples and tans of our clan. When she saw me, the simple smile she had on shifted completely.

"Hi hime. I'm home." I smiled, grinning at my beautiful little sister, she was gorgeous and tears pricked my eyes at seeing her in what felt like forever.

"Nee-chan?"Her entire face lit up and she rushed at me. I dropped my bag on the floor and held my arms out. She jumped into them and I pulled her tightly into me. "Nee-chan. Y-you are finally home." Her tears wet my shoulder as she sobbed happily into my shoulder. I kissed her cheek over and over, rubbing her short brown hair softly as to not mess it up.

"I missed you so much. I missed you Hime." I mumbled over and over. "You are so beautiful and grown. Truly a princess." The tears I was holding back finally fell and I couldn't stop them. My face had a dopey smile for sure as I continued to hold Hanabi in my arms. Another chakra entered the room and I looked up from Hanabi to see my dad. He had a diagonal scar running the length of his face but other than that, he looked healthy.

"Hinata-chan?" his Byakugan activated as he studied my chakra briefly, seeing if I was an imposter or not.

"Otousan." He breathed out a heavy sigh, his shoulders seemed to relax and he engulfed Hanabi and I into his arms and we all sank to the floor. His hand was cupping the back of my head and the other was wrapped around the both of us, pulling us tightly to him. I pressed my head into his shoulder and cried more. The last time I had saw him I could only remember his face, him saving me and for a minute I thought I had lost him. But now, here he is holding us to him showing affection that was unusual for the Hyuga clan.

"You have a lot to explain."

"I know."

"You are in a lot of trouble."

"I know." I smiled at the familiarity, letting out the softest of laughs. Hanabi giggled as well.

"That being said, I am glad to see you home safe." His arms tightened around us and he pressed his forehead to mine before pulling away.

"Me too."

"Was your mission a success?"

"Yes Otousan."

"Good. I will have Rukia take your things and make sure your room is prepared for you to sleep in as well as alerting the elders of your return." The unspoken _this is going to be hell_ made me laugh.

"Thank you Otousan."

"Of course my daughter. Did the men who returned me to the village come with you?"

"Yes."

"Bring them for a proper thank you."

"I will…just be warned. Hidan is a bit…eccentric." I laughed at the thought of the two large and uncouth men coming to have dinner with my family. That will surely be a fun time, I can only imagine the hilarity of Hidan talking to sweet little Hanabi. As long as he doesn't say anything bad to her, it will be great. I'm sure the elders will be pleased with my choices in friends, Naruto was already an uproar. I fear that Neji would be the one to punch him in the face for his…language choices and never ending flirting with me.

"It does not matter."

"Never thought I'd see the day we have rogue ninja over for dinner."

"R-rogue…doesn't that mean they are bad? Are t-they scary Nee-chan?"

"They are not necessarily good and Kakuzu is kind of scary but he and Hidan won't do anything to hurt you. Kakuzu just likes money and Hidan has a big mouth." Hanabi let out a soft giggle smiled sweetly.

"They sound fun Nee-chan."

"They are." I only had about 30 minutes before I needed to go back to the T&I department and dad left to go speak with the elders which left Hanabi and I together sitting in her bedroom. At 11 Hanabi was much bigger than when I'd left but she was still small enough that I could hold her in my lap. She told me stories of the academy and how she still had a crush on Konohamaru. Although she wasn't the most outgoing and she was shy, she was still ranked at the top of her class. Neji was also training her in clan techniques and like him, she was extremely talented at it. She also continued her lessons with Lady Seiko and was extremely perfect at everything having to do with grace and being a 'proper' lady. She loved her time with Lady Seiko and really enjoyed getting to dress up and do tea ceremonies almost as much as she loved her training as Kunoichi.

"Ino-nee lets me go to the shop with her and I get to help with the flowers. She has been really nice. I'm glad you are friends with her. She even helped me make bouquets for father while he was in the hospital and made sure Neji-nii and I had foods to eat."

"Ino really is awesome isn't she. I'll have to thank her. Would you want to help me make her something special?"

"Yes please." She caught me up on a few of the more important details of life before it was time for me to leave.

"I love you Hime. I'm so proud of you."

"I love you too Nee-chan." I kissed the top of her head and promised to be home as soon as possible then left the compound.

"So what is the news Master."

"You really brought some interesting people into our village. None of them are loyal to Konohagakure but they are all loyal to you, well mostly. That blonde terrorist is the issue as of now, he seems to harbor some sort of resentment with you." I winced at that. Deidara really was mad at me and I can only hope I can fix it. "You sure have an interesting group of friends, they almost make Naruto seem normal. Their special set of skills will be beneficial to the leaf and as long as nobody decides to attack, I have granted them solace here. They are going to be staying at the Uchiha compound with Itachi-kun." I grinned, knowing they were able to stay was fantastic news.

"Thank you Lady Tsunade."

"The sickness plaguing Itachi-san is very serious. I have never seen somebody survive this long with a disease that pressing. I can only guess that it is because of his will to see his bother once more, but I do not know if there are any counter measures. Any procedures need to be done within the week. I don't believe he will make it past that point."

"Sasori and I have a plan for that." I explained what we had come up with and left room for her expertise to put in her two sense.

"That might just work. I will help you with whatever you need. I'm pushing back your mission briefing until we have the Itachi-san situation solved"

"Thank you."

"Now leave me and go take your friends to their compound, the silver haired brat is annoyingly loud. I'll let Shisui-kun and Sasuke-kun know you are home, they will meet you there. And for the love of god, go find Naruto. If that brat shows up in my office another time asking about you I will send him to the hospital…and by that stupid look on your face, you are just as excited to see him as he is you."

"I am." I can just imagine the bright and foxy smile of his already, his verbal tick, and how he's probably taller than me now. Tsunade brought Itachi to us and together we went into the room I was first in when our blindfolds were removed and everyone was sitting around, some looking more ruffled than others. Deidara refused to meet my eye and still had a frown on instead of his usually energetic expressions.

"You are all welcomed as residents and protecters of Konohagakure. If you turn against the village you will be killed. Now, get the hell out." Tsunade slammed the door and left, probably to grab a drink against Shizune's wishes. Kisame grinned.

"I like your Hokage little Orokamono, she's feisty."

"Yeah, she's a badass." I nudged Suigetsu to get him to stand up. "Ok so time to go see your new home and you guys can meet the rest of my most favorite people in the world."

"Man, this place is huge! Are we really going to be the only people living here? That's awesome." Suigetsu spun around in awe, even though the Uchiha compound was barren and gave me a chill walking through it, it was still beautiful in design. After the massacre, Naruto and I had come here and cleaned all the blood stains we could find since we both knew the village would not do it for us. Naruto puked but we did it anyways and I'm glad we did. Having everyone see the stains from Itachi's so called mission would be horrific and I didn't want him to deal with the sight or smell of the blood of his family members when he returned home.

"Yes, the compound was designed to house over a hundred members so it is quite large." Itachi sighed in a morbid familiarity at being home after so many years. He ran his fingers along the walls, feeling every familiar crack either being left by his projectiles the night of the end or just by age and wear and tear. Even with his eyes closed he could picture the compound down to the most minute of details. Bloody or not.

"It is very nice Itachi-sama. There is a lot of nature surrounding it so I have access to the birds easier. Thank you once more for providing me a home." Jūgo smiled contently as he took in the area around him. He truly was a Disney princess, the birds flocked to him and chatted with him. Whenever he held an arm out, a creature would perch on it and hum a soft tune. **(A/N: small birds are super fuckin' creepy…I hate them so even writing this made me shiver)**

"Why the fuck is it so far from the center of the village? I don't want to do a damn hike every time I need shit. Wasn't the Uchiha clan some hot shit…why the fuck are they isolated from everyone?" I was slightly surprised Hidan was the one to pick up on it, but he was possibly the only one who really was willing to say anything about it. Even Deidara seemed perplexed by it, though he also seemed kind of smug since he realized not everyone thought the Uchiha were as cool as they acted.

"That is a story for another time…you'll probably learn about it in two weeks, give or take a bit." I chuckled awkwardly, moving past it to break the tense atmosphere as they were shown around before their homes were decided. I'm guessing he;s waiting for Shisui and Sasuke so they can have a say as well. It's a possibility that they'll turn the police station into an apartment complex for them to live in since it's closest to the exit and not taking up homes of the previously murdered family. Itachi stopped in his tracks and a second later I did as well a familiar raging chakra enveloped my senses. **(A/n Hinata isn't a sensor fully but most hyuga are pretty good at sensing in general). **Everyone else stopped in confusion and they turned around to face where Itachi and I were. The elder Uchiha brother opened his hazy onyx eyes and his features softened just the slightest.

"Hello little brother." Itachi spoke cooly as he took in the ever so slightly blurry features of his beloved brother. He took in the form of his brother and smiled softly, he was handsome and looked healthy.

"Aniki…YOU ASSHOLE." Sasuke yelled out in angsty anger, his dark coal eyes brimming with tears of conflicting emotions. He rose his fist, his chakra fluctuating and readying himself for a powerful hit as he aimed it straight towards Itachi's face. Itachi stayed completely still, awaiting the punch he felt fully deserving of. Right when Sasuke's hit was going to land, Shisui flickered in faster than the eye could follow and yanked Itachi's long ponytail, getting him to move out of the way.

"Now now little Emo-suke-chan is that the way we treat 'Tachi-chan when he finally came home. That's pretty shitty." Shisui chided, wearing his shit eating grin as he wrapped an arm around his best friend. Shisui looked completely the same with his striking yet more bubbly Uchiha features, if only just a bit taller and his curly hair a tad longer.

"Shisui-san don't!" Itachi said just the slightest it flustered in only the way Shisui could. All these years later and getting his hair pulled still got more reaction than anything else. Everyone was shocked at the sight, nobody had managed to get a reaction like that out Itachi…ever. Sasuke was having an overflow of feeling, after being in the foundation and havng suppressed his feeling to keep Danzo off his ass, seeing his bother after so long brought up everything he had hid away.

"Tachi-chan? Oh man that's priceless. Look at him." Kisame was thorougly enjoying his composed partner looking so…awkward. He needed to take notes from this Shisui guy.

"Is that guy really an Uchiha un?" Deidara finally spoke up for the first time in days. There was nothing but surprise as he looked at Shisui, he was clearly an Uchiha but Deidara found himself thinking it was a possibility that there was an Uchiha that wasn't a complete artless asshole…Sasuke was definitely not it though. Sasuke looked at Itachi and blinked back his tears before letting Shisui pull him into Itachi so they could hug. He gripped tightly around his elder brothers waist and they mumbled inaudibly so that only they could hear what was happening. Itachi let a single tear slide down his face in joy. Itachi apologized over and over, promising an explanation as soon as they got settled in, Sasuke pounded a fist into his brothers chest…not at all softly. He stood up, happy he could see his brother before his sight faded completely and pressed his fingers into Sasuke's forehead, Sasuke's face went blank at the action, but the glistening happiness and adoration that was in his eyes said it all. Shisui, Kisame, and I were grinning like maniacs and Jūgo looked pleasantly happy at Itachi's happiness.

"Ahh, the irony that Duckbutt and I's first reaction to see you is to punch you in the face. I guess we really are alike sometimes." It was as if Shisui and Sasuke finally realized the rest of us were there.

"Imouto!" Shisui's stupid grin widened even more than it had and he flashed right in front of me, scooping me up and spinning me around in a hug.

"Shisui-nii!" I wrapped my arms around him just as tight.

"Awe look at you, you're so cute!" I laughed happily as he planted kisses around my face. He stopped spinning and set me back on the ground, patting my head affectionately before getting a terrifying gleam in his eyes and turning to Sasuke. "Isn't she so cute Sasu-chan?" I looked at Sasuke and he was as stiff as a board standing next to Itachi. I finally got a good look at him and just wow. He was definitely tall, at this point he was almost Itachi's height. His hair was slightly longer but it still stuck up like a duck's feathers. His face had lost all of his baby fat and his jaw was sharp and defined. His eyes were penetrating. He was dressed in the ANBU uniform of those in the foundation with his blade resting at his hip and the white and red wolf mask attached to his belt. The close to the skin black pants and shirt not hiding the muscular form beneath. Man he really is gorgeous, it was almost unfair how dark and handsome he and Itachi were. Sasuke broke out of his thoughts and shifted his eyes from me to Shisui, scoffing.

"Hn. Whatever, she's still a freak." There was the smallest of smiles playing on his lips and I grinned back at him.

"Wow, over 3 years and I get a 'Hn'? I feel so touched." I wiped away a fake tear and was nudged forward by Shisui, Itachi doing the same to Sasuke. Both were amused that our dynamic hadn't changed even with the time apart. I took another step forward so that there was limited space between us and launched myself at him.

"Idiot." He scoffed but still caught me and wrapped his hands around me. One was tangled tightly in my hair and the other resting on my back. Mine were wrapped around his waist and squeezing him tightly. He was alive and ok, Danzo didn't do anything to him. His cheek was resting atop my head and I could feel his breathing, I could smell him. It felt so foreign yet so familiar and right at the same time.

"I missed you and your damn monosyllabic responses." I pressed my head further into his chest, smiling stupidly. After almost 9 years of spending time together friends or otherwise, being apart for so long was crazy. Deidara turned away in annoyance, he was pissed at me for the whole Tobi ordeal and now I was blatantly getting so friendly with another Uchiha asshole in front of him. He was beyond mad…and not the blow up somebody kind, the silent seething anger that was rare for the hot head. Sasori noticed his partners distress and anger but he did nothing, it wasn't his place nor did he care enough to ask. He was more interested in how I acted with my friends and family, seeing a side of me that was different than the one I showed in the Akatsuki.

"Hn. I missed your stupid self too." That was the best I was going to get from him but it didn't matter, he was here and safe and finally was able to be with his elder brother again. There was a whoosh in the air and Sasuke and I were forced to separate before we were sliced by the giant blades of Hidan's scythe that was embedded into the ground where we were just standing.

"Dude, what the fuck?" I spoke exasperatedly, my heart skipped a beat in nerves at what the hell just happened. Sasuke growled and his sword was drawn and clashed with Hidan's blade in a furious strike. Hidan was pulled back this time by Kisame and Sasuke was subdued by Shisui. Kakuzu's hands retracted from his body and he had a firm grip on Sasuke's sword as well as Hidan's scythe. As entertaining as a fight would be, he didn't want to lose the money I promised and getting kicked out within an hour of being accepted was not an option.

"That's so cool!" Shisui stared at Kakuzu's threads in amazement, he saw the bounty hunters profile in a bingo book but never really read up on his skill set so seeing this in person was so cool.

"What the hell is this stuff." Sasuke spoke coldly, eyeing the threads halting him from moving his sword. He'd never seen a jutsu like this one before.

"Dammit fish face let me go. I'm going to fuck this pretty boy up not kill him even if Lord Jashin wants his blood." Hidan thrashed but Kisame's tight grip was unrelenting and almost impossible to escape.

"I would but…nobody believes you." Kisame grinned menacingly, tightening his grip to a painful level getting more annoyed hollers and threats from Hidan. Sasuke saw the sharpness of Kisame's teeth and immediately thought of Zabuza. The large ass swords confirmed it and he shuddered thinking there were two of the crazy swordsmen now. And this guy seemed even scarier if his stature and shark-like features had anything to say about it. "Why are you trying to kill the mini Uchiha anyways?"

"That fuckin' asshole kissed the hot bitch!" That got Shisui to lose it in laughter, Sasuke's cheeks were the softest of pink but he had an arrogant smirk on his face, and I…I wanted to disappear in a hole right about now.

"You told them?" Sasuke was oozing arrogance.

"Wait-I was drunk…dammit Hidan!" I huffed and glared at him, Kisame was snickering and Sasori and Kakuzu looked interested as well.

"Who tainted you Imouto, who let you drink? 'Tachi you were supposed to make sure she stayed pure and innocent forever!" Shisui whined, using a hand to tug on Itachi's hair getting a grunt of annoyance.

"Aa. I wasn't apart of that decision."

"Ohh so you're into pretty boys. Man I got this in the bag." Suigetsu slurped his water as he watched the scene fully amused with the free entertainment. This was so much better than Orochimaru's hideouts. Looking at Suigetsu, he noticed the similar teeth and though he was smaller and less menacing, Sasuke wasn't dumb enough to think the water user was any less powerful than his sensei in learning Kenjutsu. Sasuke finally got a good look at the rest of my companions and just had to wonder what kind of freaks I made friends with. His eyes flickered between Itachi and I in questioning.

"Who the hell are these losers Aniki?" Jūgo was the first one to step forward, his hulking form for somebody barely 2 years older than me towered over Sasuke who was finally released by Shisui. The Uchiha boy tensed but instead of a violent outburst like Hidan had, the cursed boy bowed his head lowly.

"I am Jūgo. Your brother is my cage, it is an honor to meet somebody that Itachi-sama and Hinata-hime speak so highly of." Suigetsu came forward and threw and arm haphazardly over Jūgo's shoulder and another around mine.

"Yo, I'm Suigetsu Hozuki Hinata-chan's teammate and a swordsman of the mist…Your Sasuke Uchiha right? Gotta say, for a pretty boy I'm a big fan. You riled up Orochimaru-sama even more than when Hinata-chan escaped." Sasuke's eyes narrowed in distaste at the two of them. Within seconds of hearing Suigetsu's non stop rambling to whoever would listen, he already decided that the white haired boy was a more blood thirsty Naruto. And though we have been on a break, he didn't like that I had other teammates, he believed he Naruto Zabuza and Kakashi were my _real _teammates.

"So before Duckbutt gets all possessive over his precious Aniki and decides to hate all of you, let's do some more actual introductions."

"Oh I'm first…friends of 'Tachi-chan and Imouto are friends of mine." His smile dropped and he had on the most menacing look I have ever seen, it even made Sasuke shiver. Shisui was never overly threatening but at the speed he moved to mess with Itachi he was obviously skilled."But if you so much as look at them wrong…I'll kill you." His shit eating grin immediately dispelled the tense air he created as he chuckled. "But that's besides the point. Hey, I'm Shisui Uchiha!" All of them looked at him like he was crazy. They were positive now that Shisui was insane and the only Uchiha genes he received were from his looks. For Kakuzu an avid checker of the bingo book, the name Shisui was familiar, he was definitely no average Jonin.

"Sasuke Uchiha." And that was all we were going to get from him.

"Kakuzu. You are Shisui of the body flicker correct?" Shisui rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, giving a yes. "Hm. You have powerful and expensive friends Hinata." I guess that is his way of approval?

"I'm Hidan you fucking Uchiha bastards."

"Hn. Never thought I'd meet a person more crude than you freak." Sasuke mumbled lowly and I rolled my eyes. Zabuza was more foul mouthed than me but Hidan takes the cake.

"I'm Deidara un." No mentions of any threats toward Itachi or his art or anything, my heart was constricting with pain. I needed to fix this sooner rather than later.

"Sasori no Akasuna." Shisui looked at Sasori in confusion, his Hiruko shell was scary and kind of creepy.

"Is that his real body? His chakra moves oddly through it."

"No, he's a puppet master." Shisui nodded in understanding. "Ok so now that everyone knows each others names… Sasuke, Shisui." I had both of their attention.

"I have given the former Akatsuki a home in our compound but it is your choice on where they are going to have their residence. I will not give them a home wherever you do not agree. Furthermore, little brother, I know it is selfish but I would like to live with you once again with whatever time I have left." To those of us who knew of Itachi's illness, the words were more ominous than anything. Shisui's eyes narrowed but he still put a fooling smile on his face. Most Uchiha hide behind a stone mask but Shisui can fake a smile and use that as his mask. It is almost more unbreakable than just staying stoic.

"Do you even have to ask 'Tachi-chan?" Sasuke was a bit more reluctant. His eyes flickered around the compound and I could see the hidden pain and anger raging behind his onyx eyes. Itachi felt selfish asking his brother to return home with him, but yet again he wanted to be selfish. He felt as though there was possibly so little of his life left that he could just enjoy his limited time with his family. he could feel his vision fading in and out and his body was burning with sickness but it didn't matter because he got to see Sasuke and Shisui one last time.

"Hn. They can stay at the police station." Ah so I was right, that is where they are staying. Itachi Sasuke and Shisui will most likely move into Shisui's old house, I don't think Sasuke would want to go home in the slightest.

"While you show them their home and then have a nice brotherly chat, I'm going to go let everyone else know I'm home. Duckbutt do you know where Naru-kun is?"

"Where else would the dobe be this early?" Sasuke scoffed like I was an idiot and my question kind of was. At this time he would have either just woken up or was headed straight to Ichiraku Ramen since he's on a day off.

"Yeah dumb question." I gave Sasuke one last hug and promised to come back as soon as I could, he was due for another training session with his partner in the foundation tomorrow afternoon so I'd probably find him before he left. We needed to discuss the finalized plans of Itachi's surgery and see if Sasuke is willing to help. Time is ticking and if we can't start it tomorrow, the next day will be the latest I think we can wait before Itachi is completely blind. "Oh yeah Kakuzu, Hidan. Clean yourselves up and be ready by 6… my family has invited you to dinner. And please… if you won't dress up, at least wear a shirt." My eyes met Hidan at that and he smirked, puffing out his bare chest. I let out a soft laugh at him and stuck out my tongue.

"Sure thing hot bitch."

"Bye guys, I'll come by tomorrow and you can meet some other people!" Shisui pressed a soft kiss to my head and then grabbed Itachi's bag to lead them to the compound. Before Deidara could leave I grabbed his hand.

"What the hell do you want un?" He was bitter, his blue eye was burning with a ferocious anger and disappointment. He shook my hand off him and glared down at me, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Just…ugh…I know you're mad and you have every right to be but before you hate me forever just meet me at the outskirts of my compound at midnight. You can't miss it." I pleaded slightly with my eyes and he looked away before letting out a nasally huff.

"Fine un, but if I'm not satisfied I'm leaving hmm." I smiled a sad smile but I was more determined than ever to get him to stay. He was the one who was almost didn't come in the first place and no way in hell am I going to let him leave because of me not telling the full truth.

"And I will help you not get caught." It was another promise, much like one I made with Sasori on either I do something or help them do something else. I turned around and headed for the exit. "Bye Dei."

"Hmm."

I hauled ass over to Ichiraku Ramen. Seeing Sasuke made me that much more excited to see Naruto and I was moving at what felt like godspeed across the rooftops to get there. I was excited to see Naruto and was hoping he was at home because I really didn't want to race all over town trying to find him. He would also know where Kakashi and hopefully Gaara are, both of whom would be much harder to find so finding the blonde would be the best bet for me. I skidded to a stop outside the little corner shop, letting the flavorful and savory smell of ramen envelop my senses. It definitely brought back memories of all the entertaining conversations Team 7 had there.

I dropped from the roof and walked slowly forward, trying to sense his chakra in the busy area. There was no hint of it anywhere. I moved the sheet to the side and peaked in. Old man Teuchi smiled and greeted me with a smile then when he finally recognized me, it grew that much more kind.

"Hoho it's wonderful to see you again Hinata-chan, it has been a while."

"That it has Teuchi-san, this place looks amazing!"

"Thank you for the praise. What can I make for ya today? Do you still eat your usual?"

"It's been forever and you still remember? That's amazing but nope. I'm going to surprise Naruto so can you get me two bowls, one Pork Tonkatsu and one Miso with extra pork belly." He let out a guffaw and gave the order to Ayame who started right away. As much as I'd love to buy more I kinda and going to be broke for a while with Kakuzu getting all of my money…so I can only get us one bowl each and then Naruto can choose what flavor he wants.

"Coming right up, he's sure going to be happy."

"I hope so." I bounced impatiently as the food cooked. Teuchi handed me them in two to-go bowls and I hightailed it to Naruto's apartment. As soon as I got to the door, I could feel chakra inside of his apartment, it was slow so it had to be him sleeping. I raised my fist and pounded on the door obnoxiously loud so it would wake him up. There was a loud thump and a cry of annoyance before he reached the door and swung it open. He was rubbing his eyes tiredly and frowning, his otter hat all askew on his head. He was a lot taller than I remember, and though he was just waking up and had drool on his face, he had grown to look a lot more mature as well. In no time he would have ladies all over him, he was so cute.

"Oi pervy sage why…wait who are…HINA-CHAN! YOU'RE BACK 'TTEBAYO!" I was scooped up into his arms and he clumsily maneuvered through his mess to the couch, throwing me on it and plopping besides me. "And you brought ramen, you're the best!"

"I know." I jumped onto him and wrapped my arms around him, he was definitely larger than last time we were together. He spluttered awkwardly at the affection but then giggled happily and hugged me back. "I missed you Naru-kun. I bet you got a lot stronger while I was gone." He puffed out his chest pridefully and my favorite foxy, sunlight inducing grin was on his face and for a second it felt like all my worries had melted away…that it was just me and the sun, me and Naruto.

"Of course 'ttebayo. All that time with pervy sage wasn't for nothing. I bet I can even beat Kakashi-sensei. I have lots of cool jutsu's to kick but with."

"I wouldn't go that far though I think we'll have to spar to find out." I chuckled, he was always so positive and energetic it was a welcomed change. I missed this so much.

"Yeah and when Teme is done with that Danzo bastard he can join too!" I moved from hugging him to sitting back on the couch, though I was leaning into his side as we opened our ramen bowls and started eating. I was about half way through mine when Naruto was watching each bite with jealousy so being the amazing person I am, I gave him the rest of mine as well. He told me about his adventures with Jiraiya and even some of the training he was doing here with Kakashi…the rasen-shuriken isn't too far away and his seal mastery is apparently one to envy. Someday soon he will be able to use the _Flying Raijin_ as well and when that happens, any enemies are fucked. Naruto is at a completely different level than before and I have no doubt that he would kick my ass if we went into a full out battle. I picked up the bowls to throw them away not wanting to add to the clutter that is his room and when I turned around to walk back Naruto had on a mischievous look.

"Hina-chan." He used a finger to make a come-hither motion and I did albeit very confusedly. He yanked my arm and pulled me into his lap, his cerulean eyes boring into my own. "See that, I made you come with one finger, imagine what I can do with two." I was stunned into complete silence. I have heard a lo of pick-up lines, in fact they never fail to amuse me but this one…coming from Naruto of all people had he shook. I opened my mouth and then lost it, laughing until I was crying. It was the greatest line and most smooth thing Naruto has ever done and I have no doubt that Jiraiya told him to say it. **(This is my fav pick up line ever used and I lost my shit when I heard it.)**

"That is the greatest thing I have ever heard in my life." I got out between wheezes. Naruto was grinning happily and laughing along as well. I used to always use pick up lines on him as a joke and he finally came up with one that put all of mine to shame.

_(3d pov) because I haven't done one for Naruto yet…_

When Naruto saw Hinata for the first time in over three years he was shocked. She was so…so beautiful. Her hair was as long and lustrous as ever and her face was no longer rounded and chubby in a cute way, she was more womanly and too pretty for him to even describe. His heart beat faster, he was nervous. Hinata's smile was like a flower and Naruto felt a happiness different than what he felt with his friends, it was like he was feeling something for the first time. It was scary and made his chest stop working but it was also intoxicatingly amazing at the same time. When they talked it was like no time had passed between them, she still smiled with her eyes and laughed at what he said.

She still had that unwavering belief in him that he was going to be a hero, that he was strong enough to be the Hokage and save the world. It made her that much more wonderful. She took care of him, just like when they were little. She didn't just come home and tell him, she came home and brought him food, she cleaned up his mess for him, she even shared her food because she felt like he needed it more. She wasn't just strong or pretty, Naruto believed she was beautiful because of that kindness in her heart that was also like raging waves when she was angry. When she took his bowl to the garbage, the sunlight entered through the blinds and he felt clammy again, it was an odd feeling that was foreign. He got a perfect view of her profile, she was so beautiful. He lifted his calloused hand in impulse to trace the beautiful outline of her face with his fingers but then she turned back to him and he dropped it and blurted out something else to help his heart from beating so erratically.

He released her from his hold and then she rested back against his side, still letting out soft little giggles at his amazingly executed pick-up line. She was practically glowing in happiness at being reunited with him, all she needed was to find Kakashi and the 'orogional' Team 7 would be back together. But before even trying to find him, she was going to find Shika. Their last meeting was…passionate to say the least and she missed his snarky lazy ass responses. For the moment it was feeling as everything was going right in the world.

"Naru-kun, where are Panda-kun and Kashi-sensei going to be today?"

"Kakashi-sensei promised to train me today dattebayo but since he's always late don't expect him to be there until later. Gaara-kun is staying at a secret inn by the Hokage tower! I'll take you there 'ttebayo." Naruto felt like his mind was going blank when she smiled appreciatively at him and laced their fingers together. She crossed her legs over his and pressed a kiss to his hand.

"I'm really glad I'm home. I can't tell you how much I missed you. I also have a few people I really want you to meet and I know duckbutt wants you to meet 'Tachi as well."


	23. Interlude: Brotherly Love

**Ok so I wanted to say that Hinata hasn't been wearing her ninja attire yet because they were traveling and she didn't want to ruin it. Also being the person she is, was waiting for the perfect moment to debut it in Konohagakure like a baller. Also this is around where Jiraiya dies in the show just to put time frame into existence. **

Sasuke and Itachi were let into Shisui's home after showing the Akatsuki to their new home at the police station where they would be aloud to alter anything inside to fit their needs for space. Shisui left to his room, giving the brothers room to bond after so long, he wanted to hug Itachi and talk endlessly with Itachi giving one word responses but this was time for them to be together and the energetic Uchiha knew that. So he kept what he wanted to say down for a while, just feeling relieved that Itachi and Hinata were both home safe with some new friends and he put together what was going to be his room once again.

Sasuke really didn't like Hidan, he disliked most of the people there, they all gave him feelings of unease especially the blonde guy, but Hidan just pissed him off. There was something about the way Hinata was so comfortable with the foul mouthed man, as soon as he saw her give him a hug and didn't shy away from his flirtatious advances, he disliked the man. Plus the guy seemed like a complete and utter dumbass and the smell of blood on him seemed to be almost a part of his natural musk, something about that was triggering.

Not only that, Hinata seemed annoyingly friendly with everyone there, they were criminals, she was supposed to bring home Itachi not all of those other crazy people. Even his brother seemed to be friendly with a few of them, he didn't get it. The blue skinned giant was very familiar with Itachi, they were said to be teammates and apparently Itachi vouched for him saying he was a loyal and trusted friend. He wasn't one to be jealous, but he was, these people got to spend time with two of four most important people in his life, got to see them grow and be happy all while Sasuke was alone with the fucking asshole Danzo. What did they have that he didn't? Itachi noticed his brothers inner turmoil and felt his heart break, he hated seeing Sasuke so hurt. He wanted to protect his brother from pain and hate but yet because he was so easily backed into a corner, he hurt his brother more than anyone else could have. He felt like a dick, he planned on Sasuke killing him…it was stupid but contrary to rational belief Itachi never was the best decision maker when it came to what was best for Sasuke.

Sasuke gripped at his brothers shirt and punched him in the face, sending Itachi sprawling into the wall behind him. It felt really, really good. Sasuke was pissed, hurt, sad, happy and all of that came out as he gave his brother another punch to the jaw. Sasuke no longer had the burning rage to murder his brother, but he still thought Itachi deserved to have the shit knocked out of him and hopefully some sense in along the way. How could Itachi have left and not told him the real reasoning why, did he not understand how much worse it would have been when Sasuke finally killed Itachi and then learned the truth. It would have broken him for sure and Sasuke was so man Itahci thought so little of himself that he was ready to die, that he would hurt his brother just so he could die in the future. It was selfish, Sasuke wanted to know if Itachi realized how much he looked up to him? He was the coolest and yet Itachi was so willing to give all that away…why? To save Sasuke but make him a ball of hate and rage? No, it was selfish and too damn nice at the same time.

"Why Aniki…why?" Sasuke hit Itachi again and again, tears streaming from his burning red eyes. "You could have told me everything, I wouldn't have been mad."

"I know. I thought I was protecting you from the burden of choosing between me and the village or our family." Itachi's tone was unwavering though it was laden heavily with guilt. He lay there letting Sasuke get all of his anger and frustration out on him, it hurt. His body and eyes always did but he was going to endure it for the sake of Sasuke and for the sake of himself, he deserved this.

"So you made me watch everyone die so I would hate you instead? You burdened me with hate for you instead, how is that better?" Sasuke yelled through the tears, expressing all of his hurt and anger and love and all the myriad of emotions flowing inside of him. He couldn't pick what one was most dominant so he reverted it into anger like always. Itachi's eyes were blurry but he kept them trained onto the form of his brother as he smiled sadly, it was a smile begging of forgiveness and one holding nothing but love.

"I was the foolish one this time little brother. I am sorry…for everything. I am underserving but please forgive me one last time Sasuke." Itachi held his middle and pointer fingers out and Sasuke broke, he leaned his head forward and allowed the bruised Itachi to poke him right in the center. He collapsed into Itachi's awaiting arms and buried his face into his elder brothers shoulder, his tears dampening the navy fabric.

"I hated you…dammit you made me hate you." Sasuke's voice cracked as he spoke muffled into Itachi's shoulder. He suddenly felt 8 years old again with his big brother comforting him from a nightmare or when his father completely ignored his existence. Sasuke didn't care he was almost an adult, all he cared about was keeping his brother with him.

"I know." Sasuke hit Itachi in the chest right against a bruise the boy had left minutes before. It was firm but not to injure him, just to express his feelings in the way he knew he couldn't do with words.

"D-do you know how stupid you are Aniki." Sasuke grumbled. Itachi chuckled deeply; it wasn't one of joy but one of relief at the surprisingly softer sound of Sasuke's voice.  
"Aa. Very." Sasuke was right, looking back, although he was backed into a rock and a hard place, the force of trying to get Sasuke to hate him was idiotic.

"You should have told me…you should have." A sop wracked through Sasuke's smaller form and Itachi rubbed his back comfortingly, the same way he did when Sasuke would have nightmares as a boy.

"I know little brother. I know." Itachi sighed, the sting of tears finally subsiding their harsh pricking at his degrading eyes. He had to hold back the coughs threatening to escape his lungs that were aggravated with getting hit. He could feel Sasuke's heavy breathing even out and the tears were finally slowing down and no longer so intense.

"I…forgive you." He tsked lowly, no matter how mad he was, he couldn't blame everything on Itachi. All of it was Danzo's fault and he couldn't stay mad at the person who wanted to protect him.

"Why." Itachi was grateful and relieved that Sasuke had forgiven him so quickly. He didn't expect Sasuke to forgive him and though he was extremely happy, the elder brother was confused.

"For making sure that reckless idiot came back home…and because…I-I love you Aniki." Itachi smiled at his little Tsundere of a brother who refused to meet his gaze. All of Sasuke's tears were dry and his feelings had evened out enough for the youngest to realize no matter how mad he was, he was glad his brother was home…and he only felt a little bad about sucker punching him.

"Of course, I made you a promise. Thank you…Sasuke-kun." Itachi pressed their foreheads together, his eyes closed and a sadly serene smile on his lips as he spoke. "I love you as well little brother." Sasuke grit his teeth to not smile, no way.

When Sasuke's chakra stopped thrashing uncontrollably in his body was when Shisui knew they had their moment and he could finally truly spend time with his best friend. Shisui came down the stairs to the touching sight of Itachi with a bruised face pressing his head against a swollen eyed Sasuke's who coincidentally had bloody smiled, it wasn't a grin or mischievous at all, it was genuinely happy and it overtook his entire face, lighting up the room.

He bounded over to the two brothers and wrapped them both in his larger frame, though sadly Itachi wasn't as small as before and was barely 2 centimeters shorter. Itachi relaxed into the hug and Sasuke did as well, they just enjoyed the comfort of one another as Shisui spoke happily of finally being a family together. Shisui was perceptive, especially on the little traits of Itachi even all of these years later so he could tell Itachi was more in his mind than usual and something was weighing on his mind. So being the best friend, and basically older brother to the duo, he tugged Itachi's ponytail getting a childish (well as childish as Itachi is capable of) grunt and pout.

"'Tachi-chan what are you thinking about?" Shisui's eyes were kind and like always, they coaxed Itachi into telling the truth.

"Hn, I have something I have to tell both of you." He sighed deeply and a thick tension built between the three.

"What is it?" Sasuke said nothing but Itachi had his undivided attention. He had no idea what Itachi was going to say and though the aura of uncertainty around Itachi was unsettling, Sasuke wasn't worried, nothing could take his brother away from him again.

"I'm dying."

"Wh-what." Sasuke barely managed to choke out the words. Shisui was stunned into disbelief and just stared with his deep gray eyes at Itachi, his face void of any emotion.

"I have a terminal illness. Hinata-hime has said it's moved to my bloodstream and the way my eyes have deteriorated from overuse, I won't make it until the end of the month even if I'm lucky." Shisui finally found his voice and though he knew it was broken, he was ready to say something Itachi continued on. "However, Hinata-hime and Sasori-san have informed me that they believe they have a cure. I will be getting the procedure tomorrow, but if it does not work, I wanted you to know beforehand." Itachi produced a scroll from his sleeve and handed it to Sasuke and Shisui. "I was forbidden from reading it, it is from Hinata giving you the details of tomorrow." Shisui and Sasuke breathed a bit easier, if they had faith in anything, it was Hinata's skills as a medical ninja…the only uncertainty was Sasori.

"Do you trust Sasori enough to let him be in charge of your life?" Shisui was wary, Sasori was terrifying and even in the brief interaction no part of him seemed to want to help anybody but himself. Though, the puppet did seem to keep his eyes on Hinata for a second too long, like he was studying a puzzle.

"Hn, no but I do trust Hinata-hime and they have some unspoken relationship and he would not betray her as of now."

"Well if Imouto trusts him then I do too."

"Hn." Itachi once more pressed his forehead to Sasuke, drawing Shisui inot the mix and he inhaled deeply, his lungs shuddering at the effort.

"Thank you both, for even if I do not make it, you have forgiven me and I got to see you one last time." His voice was thick with feeling and love as he enjoyed the moment that he had given up on so long ago.

"Don't speak like that you asshole." Sasuke snapped instantly at the statement, it was too morbid for him and he refused to accept Itachi dying from some stupid illness. No way, not after he got home. He'd be dammed if Itachi were to die.

"Sasu-chan is right, if Imouto says she has a cure then I believe her and you'll be up and running in no time." Shisui smiled, it was strained but he held complete faith in Hinata and that showed. He wouldn't accept that. Sasuke and Shisui opened the scroll and read through it, both of them immediately accepting their roles and how they couldn't tell Itachi. it was risky but seemed ingenious as well.


	24. Finally, a chance to reunite

Before I left Naruto's flat, we planned on meeting up at 1 to go visit Gaara together and though I wanted to stay and hang out with him for hours, I had so many other people to say hello to and knowing them, I'd be beat up if I came home and didn't let them know right away. That gives me an hour and a half to find the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. I was strolling through the village actively doing my best to sense around for one of their chakra signatures without having to activate my Byakugan. Thankfully I was no longer dressed in bloody garbs and I was chilling in shorts with a gray jacket covering my torso. It was busy in the village, there were more people than I remembered being around in the town center but I guess this would be the reason for the economic boom. I got a lock on the slow flowing chakra of Shikamaru, Ino and Choji were with him as well. They were inside the Yakiniku Q, I wouldn't expect anything less. I opened the door to the shop and was greeted instantly by a new waitress.

"Hello welcome to Yakiniku Q, how may I help you?"

"Oh actually, my friends already have a table, I'm here to surprise them." I guestured back to Ino's table and the woman gave me a polite smile and a small bow.

"Of course miss, go right ahead."

"Thanks!" I nodded my head back and slowly made my way over, hoping to not be seen. Ino and Choji were sitting _very_ close on one side of the booth and Shikamaru was alone on the other, his back was facing towards me. Ino's unbelievably blue eyes met mine and she jumped but I put my finger over my lips shushing her. She grinned mischievously and whispered to Choji who also had a happy smile on his face as I waved to him.

"Geez what's got you so weird now you troublesome woman?" Shikamaru's voice was deeper but it was smooth and still had that lazy drawl I was ever familiar with. In one swift movement I moved to be sitting right next to Shikamaru, looking into his surprised chocolatey eyes with a smile.

"Oh you know, she's just excited that I'm here to save your lazy ass from third wheeling." Shikamaru's lips curled into a smirk and he rested his arm on the chair behind me. He looked older as well, his face was chiseled in a more rugged yet sexy way and his skin was even more tanned and healthy looking. His charcoal black hair was slightly longer but still stuck up in his trademark ponytail. There was a small scar that ran horizontally through the left side of his top and bottom lip and his body was more muscled than when we were pre-teens. "Hi Ino, Choji! It's good to see you both so happy."

"Hi Hinata-chan!" Choji gave me a smile as he dutifully cooked the food for the table. "I'm glad to see you are safe, you had all of us worried after we got those letters." I smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry to worry you Choji. You look healthy! How's Hide?" Hide is 9 now and I haven't visited him at the orphanage since I left. I know he was entering the academy when I left so I hope he was accepted into the program despite having no family to care for him. **(Hide was the baby at the orphanage Choji and her went to in part 1)**

"He's good. He is top of his class right now." Choji beamed and I felt so proud of the sweet boy, he was such a cutie I'll have to go say hi and bring him some cake soon.

"I knew the little shit could do it."

"Hey Hinata!" Ino greeted and I grinned stupidly at her, so glad to see her once again. Ino winked her eyes flickering between Shika and I…and I blatantly ignored her.

"And just when my life was beginning to be calm. What a drag." Shikamaru smiled down at me and I grinned back. Ino and Choji were just watching fully entertained.

"And I was hoping more for a 'wow Hinata you're home I'm so happy I could cry or something of the sort.'" Shika snorted in indignation and Ino and Choji both laughed amusedly. I batted my eyelashes cheekily and slumped into his side, the smell of the food reminding me that Naruto took half of my lunch.

"Yeah yeah, I'm glad you're home safe. You look…" His calculating eyes gave me a once over and even though it was quick I know he got down every detail to the smallest differences. He most definitely noticed the bandages peaking out of my jacket "…good." I beamed at him and he shoved my face, chuckling.

"You look good too, not staying inside playing Shogi has done wonders." I got a look at his clothing and almost lost it. "Wholly shit! You became a JONIN! I thought it was too much of a drag." He put a hand on his neck and rubbed it bashfully, pushing his bottom lip out in the smallest of pouts. Shika let out a sigh like even having to explain it would drain him of his energy.

"As nosey as ever woman. I told you I would catch up. Besides, Asuma-sensei pushed me into it."

"Ok ok, as fun as you two flirting is…move your ass Shikamaru." Ino quite literally shoved Shikamaru out of his seat and then sat on my lap even though she is still annoyingly taller than me and pulled me into a crushing hug as she giggled in happiness. Her smile was contagious and I returned it right back, laughing along with her. Her eyes were glistened with tears and her long white-blonde hair was brushing against my arm. Ino was a bombshell: a tall sexy blonde with the personality to match.

"Ino I can't thank you enough for taking care of Hanabi-hime while I was gone. You are the greatest friend I could ask for, she was practically glowing when talking about you." I squeezed her tighter, I was so grateful for everything she did. She got to take care of Hanabi while I wasn't there, she was helping me while I was being a shitty sister. I couldn't thank her enough for helping Hanabi with the things I couldn't even if I was here.

"It's nothing. I told you I would, besides you're my sister which means Hanabi-chan is my little sister as well. What kind of big sister would I be if I left her to Neji-san's care." Ino smiled kindly and I squeezed her tighter. She would have loved to meet Konan. "Ok enough with this sappy crap…Look at you Hinata! You're such a hottie! Look at your rack they're huge. Oh my god!" Ino poked her finger into by breast and my face flushed pink. My boobs were very much out there, not Tsunade but they are large and in charge. I don't dislike them, they actually make my figure look pretty damn fine but having somebody point out something I don't try to emphasize is embarrassing as hell. Puberty hit fast and they just grew and kept growing.

"Ok but look at you, you freaking beautiful giant!" Ino smiled and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I missed you so much, I've been drowning in testosterone." Ino laughed, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh I know, my dad told me all about the band of guys you brought home." She leaned down and did the worst version of a whisper known to man, Ino is anything but secretive. "So on a scale of 1 to 10, how hot are they."

"Ino-chan!" Choji whined out to his girlfriend and she gave him a sheepish but unashamed smile.

"Sorry honey, none of them have anything on you but I need to know who our little Hinata has been spending her time with."

"Honestly… everyone is at least a 9." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at me in distaste, criminals and Ino only cared about how hot they were. And what was worse was i found them all to be extremely attractive like the rest of the female population…not like the same couldn't be said for the shadow user himself. "You can meet them all later in the week if you don't have a mission."

"Nope I work at the hospital for the rest of the week so I meet them all for lunch! Choji-kun Shikamaru-kun, you both are coming as well." She left no room for nonsense and back talk, Ino had these boys on a leash and it was always amusing on how they behaved with her commanding presence. Adding that to the fact that now being an intern with her father and Ibiki, she was more manipulative and deadly than ever.

"We know." They both chorused with different levels of enthusiasm. Ino gave you one last sisterly hug and moved to sit back with Choji, resting back against him, intertwining her slender fingers with his, getting the most genuine and loving smile from the boy. Who would have known the shallow and selfish Ino would end up being such a kind (kind of scary) and talented Kunoichi.

"Foods ready!" Choji kindly made Ino her plate first, putting a good serving of all of her favorites and then piled high on the grilled meats and vegetables himself. Shikamaru had to fend for himself to get a plate full of food. I chatted with Ino about all the interesting gossip I had missed being gone. I didn't order any food for myself because I was officially broke until I get more money from a job or the elders. Three years later and Shikamaru could still read me like a book and when Ino was telling me about making time to sleepover at her house when a piece of grilled pork belly was being lazily waved in front of my face by none other than the lazy genius. I quirked an eyebrow at him and he huffed.

"I know you're hungry so just eat the food woman." The Nara drawled out, waiting for me to take the food. It was sweet but I felt bad, I didn't come to steal his food, I just wanted to hang out.

"But it's yours, I'm fine Shika." I smiled genuinely touched at the notion. His pouty form was amusing, for an asshole Shika really is a gentleman. It comes from his weird 'manly' complex but oh well.

"Don't be troublesome, I can't just sit here and eat if you're hungry. Ma would have my head." Oh man I haven't seen Mama Yoshino in forever, I have to stop by and say hello soon, to Shikaku as well. They are always kind to me and Yoshino never ceases to amuse me. He's right though, if he was even being the slightest bit 'impolite' he would get the tongue lashing of his life. Man I'd never been more scared than when we got caught sneaking out of class by Yoshino and she whipped me with just her words.

"Fine, thank you. I am kind of hungry." I opened my mouth and Shika guided the chopsticks in so I could take the food for my own nourishment. Being with my friends was amazing and getting fed was just a plus of that moment.

"You're _always_ hungry." He said pointedly, Choji and Ino nodding in agreement. His dark eyes flashed in amusement and though it was improper to speak with food in my mouth, who the hell cares. I pouted in false annoyance, my brows furrowing into a scowl.

"Fuck off." I muttered with the delicious and slightly spicy meat in my mouth. Shikamaru snorted in amusement knowing he was right. He's not wrong though, food might be the greatest thing ever and I always find myself hungry. The lazy genius grumbled but still continued to feed me in between taking bites for himself and I suddenly understood why kings had their servants feed them; it's such a power trip. We were all disappointed when it was time for me to leave but I had places to go and panda Iinchuriki to be seen. I hugged Ino tightly, was engulfed in a bear hug by Choji, and Shikamaru gave me a side hug and a kiss to my temple.

I got to the training grounds and Naruto was sitting swinging his legs atop the stump. When he saw me his face lit up and a cheeky grin stretched across his lips. I returned it tenfold and he bounded over to me, picking me up and swinging me around.

"Hina-chan! Ready to go see Gaara-kun?"

"Hell yeah." Naruto wasted no time in putting me on his back and taking off quickly. I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist and held my hands out, enjoying the wind whipping around me. Laughter burst from Naruto and it made it bubble out of my chest as well.

"Have you talked to the teme yet? I've only seen him once since I came home! That bastard Danzo basically took over his whole life 'ttebayo." I knew the foundation basically took over a persons life and created 'emotionless super soldiers' but Naruto having been home for months and only got to see Sasuke once was crazy. Naruto had Jiraiya, Kakashi had Gai, and I had the Akatsuki but Sasuke, Sasuke has been alone and isolated from everyone. I can't wait to get him the hell out of there.

"I saw him this morning. I can't believe he's been so isolated like that. Dammit, we've got to do something soon." What kind of idiots are we, sending Sasuke in with Danzo thinking it would be any better on his psyche than him going with Orochimaru. As soon as Itachi's surgery is over, we're taking out that bastard completely. Shisui will get his eye back, the clan will be avenged, and Danzo will have his head on a steak.

"I know, don't worry Hina-chan, I'll save Sasuke-teme from that bastard and we'll take him down together." Naruto's hands tightened on my thighs and his voice was blazing with determination. The desire to help Sasuke and avenge his best friends family was rolling off of him in waves, Naruto really is too good of a person. My heightened stress of the situation was quelled just by the unwavering smile he directed towards me. Naruto skidded to a stop and let me climb off his back. I was rocking back and forth in excitement as Naruto pounded on the door relentlessly. It opened and all I needed to see was the deep blood red of his hair before I sprung forward and wrapped my arms and legs around him.

"Panda-kun!" His sand didn't react and Gaara was as stiff as a board until he looked down and took a slight inhale, seeing my navy hair and recognizing my scent, his body relaxed just slightly and his arms loosely made their way around me. Dammit, Gaara was my height last time we hung out and now it's not even fair. Why do boys get to be so tall!

"Hinata-chan." He breathed out my name in disbelief, his gorgeous sea-foam eyes were looking into mine and he had the softest, barely there smile on his lips. "You're here." His voice was deeper and still had its raspy tone, it was not aggressive and he still spoke slightly toneless. His hair had grown out slightly and was still a mess. His face was cut and he had a bad boy mixed with sweet panda look about him. He smelled of a musky metallic sand and there was just the faintest aroma of sweet cacti flowers.

"And you're alive." I did something, he was alive and Shukaku was safe within his host. Deidara didn't have his arms crushed and I felt choked up about it.

"That is thanks to you." Gaara set me down but didn't remove me from hugging him. He looked behind me and gave Naruto a smile and nod as well. "Hello Naruto-kun. Thank you for coming to visit." I could listen to Gaara talk all day, his voice is so gruff yet soothing. And his body is so warm, when he isn't covered in sand armor his skin is so soft I can't handle it. I pressed my head into his chest and felt his chest rumble as he spoke.c

"How many times has he dragged you to Ichiraku since you came here?" I snickered at the thought knowing that there in no way Gaara hasn't been forced to eat ramen at least twice a week. Gaara looked pensive for a moment before answering matter-of-factly.

"Almost every day, I believe it to be the only food he consumes." I snickered at the accuracy of that statement and then put my hand on Gaara's head, patting his head softly in fake condolences. He leaned into the touch like a kitten.

"Why would I eat anything else 'ttebayo, Ramen is the food of Gods?"

"Do you ever stop thinking about ramen?" Gaara deadpanned, fully sarcastic with his questioning. Naruto just grinned and shrugged.

"Sometimes 'ttebayo."

"Hinata-chan, when did you return?"

"Just this morning. How is the village treating you, any asses I gotta kick?" I got a smile from Gaara at my threat, I wouldn't truly go and hurt anybody but I'm hoping the villagers that have gotten to see him are being amicable and welcoming.

"They are slightly wary but nobody has been unkind. I am very pleased that you are safe. I was worried for your safety when you risked your life for mine. I appreciate it but do not do that for me. If I die to save my friends or my village I have done my job as Kazekage." His eyes seemed to burn with a certain flair, one of a man who loves his people and will die for them. It's something I struggle to understand, his villagers the one he has sworn to protect were so evil to him. He should hate them and yet he cares such a deep love and desire to protect them. It's the same with Naruto.

"You really are honorable. And you seem much more confident in who you are compared to when I last visited Suna."

"Yes well I have had a lot of help." Gaara's pale skin flushed a soft pink at his confession, embarrassed to admit he needed help. He moved out of the doorway and gestured in his temporary residence. "Would you both like to come in?"

"Sorry, I gotta go back and wait for Kakashi-sensei 'ttebayo. He's helping me with my super awesome new jutsu." Naruto still won't spill on what it is, but I guess we are all going to find out soon. "See ya later Gaara-kun, Hina-chan." Naruto turned around and sprinted away. Gaara and I entered his apartment and it smelled of the understated nectar of succulents. On his table there were stacks of paperwork he had sent over to complete for the village, even in hiding he was a dutiful Hokage. There were many of the potted cacti resting around the room, each one was different sized and a few had pink and red flowers growing out of the shaft. Each looked perfectly healthy and tended to. Like Naruto, Gaara carefully tended to plants and found solace in the care of such delicate organisms, granted Cacti are easier to care for than some of Naruto's flowers but the premise is the same. I walked over to one of the most beautiful spiny plants and gently ran my finger over the soft pink petals of the flowers.

"What is this? It's beautiful." Gaara came up behind me and softly stroked the spines, careful not to prick a finger.

"This is a _Hatiora gaertneri. _It's flowers bloom in late winter and early spring. They are harder to care for in Suna but the temperament of Konoha's weather makes them ideal to grow here. They are very beautiful, the lavender ones are my favorite. They remind me of you, soft on the eyes yet dangerous to the touch."

"Thanks? Although I think that description fits you better." I moved to another one and marveled down at it. It was odd, I'd never seen a plant like it. "What is this one called?"

"This one is the_ Kalanchoe tomentosa." _He smiled softly at the plant. "It is also called the Panda Plant because of the soft fuzz coating on the leaves. I have only successfully gotten it to flower once." I ran my fingers over the fuzzy leaves, they were soft to the touch but the leaves were so thick it would take more effort to break them than a regular plant. Gaara showed me each of his plants and the proper way to take care of them, it was the most I have ever heard him talk in one single setting. We moved out to sit on the balcony, the warming spring air blowing against our skin. I rested my back against Gaara's side as we looked out over the village.

"I love having you here Gaara but I can see that longing in your eyes. The threat is significantly lower. I think-I hope it is safe enough for you to return home. But only if you have somebody with you 24/7."

"I would like to return home. My village, my people, my students they all need me. The other Jinchuriki you notified, none of them want to return home but I have to."

"I know. Before you leave, I have somebody for you to meet. His name is Sasori no Akasuna." Gaara stiffened at the name, he like others from Suna know the name of the infamous scorpion. "His grandmother, Lady Chiyo, I want him to see her again. He doesn't understand the point to living and I want to show him. You are the Kazekage so it is your decision if you will allow the rogue back to your village so I want you to meet him. Plus, he's kind of an asshole but I feel like you two just might get along."

"I will meet with him; however, if he seems a threat I will not allow him to enter the village. I will not put that risk for the citizens of Sunagakure." I agreed to it, hoping Sasori wouldn't piss off Gaara. I'm already counting on him and Kakashi not getting along in the slightest due to history and Kakashi's incessant tardiness but I hope he can at least not piss off Gaara enough to go visit his home and his grandmother. He was willing to die instead of kill her the first time around so there has to be some love for her left in his heart. My eyes were getting heavier the longer we sat there. I have been awake for over a day at this point and it was taking its toll. Gaara noticed my exhaustion.

"You can rest if you would like. I will wake you up when you have to leave."

"Mhmm..I'm..not tired." I slightly slurred over my words, leaning more into his warmth and firm body.

"Yes, you are." He was amused at my feeble attempt to stay awake but he used his Kazekage voice to make me submit to my sleeping desires.

"Ok…please wake me up…in 30…minut…" I fell asleep taking and my head fell onto his shoulder for a quick pick me up nap.

**A/N: This pic is so freaking funny... also my entire state had a snow day today so that's nice...except I hate snow so it kinda sucks too.**

Gaara shook me awake from my little power nap and though I was still exhausted, I no longer felt like I would fall over if somebody blew on me. I said my goodbyes and Gaara promised to meet with Sasori sometime before Kankuro, Temari, and Baki come to escort him back to Suna. I leisurely made my way to training ground 7 where Naruto was supposed to be meeting with Kakashi. I was more nervous to meet up with Kakashi than anybody else, when we left he was against the idea of me leaving so there is no way he is pleased with me coming home with more than Itachi. Kakashi seems lax most of the time but he is also very strict and no-nonsense, he doesn't tolerate criminals so Zabuza was a miracle in itself but with everyone else, that is going to be tense and Kakashi might want to punch me in the face. I mean, there is no way in hell he doesn't know I brought some of the Akatsuki members home with me.

The closer I got to the training grounds the more my heart was beating erratic. I wrung my hands together, freaking out mildly. I trust Kakashi to not hate me, but getting scolded by someone who is like my idol just sounds awful. He is passive aggressive and extremely intimidating when he wants to be. I was less than a kilometer away from the training grounds and I could feel the white calm fury of Kakashi's electric chakra invading my senses. Man, it's been a while, something about his chakra was always so comforting, it made me feel safe and protected in a way nobody else's did. I made my way off the trail and up into the trees to make a grand entrance, not that I would be surprised if Kakashi had smelled my presence already. I stuffed my hands in my pocket and traveled forward until I was right above the edge of the grounds, Kakashi was sitting idly against the base of a tree reading his book but by the taught muscles in his back, he was ready for anything like usual. His hair was as silvery and spiky as always and damn, he was still a babe among babes. Not too far away Naruto was sitting meditating with Iruka-sensei. He looked happy as well, Iruka was always kind and like a big brother who always kept us on the right track.

I smiled, inhaled deeply, rolled my shoulder painfully against the stitching and dropped to the ground right in front of Kakashi. His slate gray eye flicked up from the book and he closed it, folding the page. His visible eye curved up into a crescent and I knew he was smiling. He easily pushed up to be standing tall and before I could hug him, he placed a hand on my head, ruffling my hair and holding me in place.

"Maa Maa, if it isn't my cute little rogue student." His grip on my head tightened and his smile was less kind and more like when he was ready to put Naruto, Sasuke, and I through hellish training. "I was wondering when you'd get back…There are some interesting rumors going around that you brought back a bunch of criminals wanting to kill your best friend home with you… but my intelligent little student would never be so idiotic… right?" There was a knowing glint in his eye and he spoke so passive and disbelieving but it was all completely sarcastic. I chuckled nervously, biting down on my lip sheepishly. Well, fuck me sideways.

"Eh haha about that…we all know I am stupid enough to do that." I cheesed at him and the tenseness was gone, replaced with a deep sigh of utter exhaustion. His hand slipped from my head and he ran his fingers through his silky silver locks.

"What am I going to do with you?" Kakashi was wholeheartedly wondering how he got stuck with the most troublesome team ever to exist and he couldn't help but feel like it was a punishment as much as it was a gift.

"Love me? " It came out as a question and I couldn't stop smiling. He rolled his eye and huffed out a laugh "and meet everyone before making any decisions…please?" I bat my eyes at him, trying to make them more puppy-dog like. When he pursed his lips, I knew I had him hook line and sinker. The puppy dog no jutsu was a specialty curtsey of Naruto Uzumaki himself.

"Fine fine, but just so you know, I will kill them without mercy if they so much as flinch wrong." His deceiving smile and borderline chipper tone was the opposite of his words but it didn't matter, they were all going to become buddies if I had to shove camaraderie down their throats. "Other than that, welcome back. You look a bit more grown, I feel old."

"I mean with that hair, you already look old." I snarked back and he just waved it off, letting nothing faze him as usual.

"Oh is that right?" He pat my head and finally let me hug him…well until he picked me up by my jacket and pulled me off of him, opening his book up and sliding back down the tree. I slid down beside him and he tilted the book to be just out of my view. "Do you need something?" Kakashi is sometimes the best conversationalist and other times he is the worst. I clasped my hands together and he raised a brow.

"Please summon your ninken! I promised them all treats when I got back." I pulled the bag of different sized treats from the small sealing scroll I was carrying around. He eyed them and once more rolled his eye.

"You spoil them too much." They are so cute and precious, they deserve all the love and treats I can carry. Especially Bull, he is like my giant pillow and whenever I was sad Kakashi would send bull to my house to cuddle with me. It's not just them though, I have a habit of summoning my lions and buying them whatever they ask me for. Muramasa has no problem taking advantage of that and gets me to let him have things I should probably not give him.

"Says the one who feeds them better food than what he feeds himself." The amount of times Hanabi has made me dinners to bring to my team and I've seen Kakashi give it to his dogs for no other reason than them 'needing nutrients' is unbelievable. They are like his little children that he spoils rotten.

"I don't give them treats every time I see them." Kakashi shot back smoothly, sounding slightly dismissive and slightly defensive about being seen as an actual caring person.

"I'm trying to buy their love so they leave you for me." It wasn't necessarily a lie but his dogs are completely loyal to Kakashi and it's adorable. But I really want them to finally accept me as their mother or cool aunt or something, though most if not all of them are older than me. He smirked beneath his mask, amused by my doting on his precious little pups.

"Unlikely."

"But not impossible." I grinned as Kakashi pricked his finger with a Kunai and slammed it into the ground, a small plume of smoke covered the area and when it dissipated I let out a squeal. Bull and his giant body bounded over to me and gave me a wet slobbery kiss up the side of my face before settling himself in my lap. He was damn heavy. I scratched behind his ear and he let out a pleased whine.

"Welcome back little pup." Pakkun's deep voice carried in the clearing and I grinned, exploding with happiness at all the canines around me.

"Come to me my perfect little children, I brought treats!" All of the dogs bound over to me, welcoming me home. Guruko, Ūhei, Akino, Bisuke, Shiba, Urushi, Bull, and Pakkun each got a treat specialized to their size and what I remembered them saying their favorite flavors were. Bull, my sweet baby had such a sweet tooth and I gave him a giant homemade molasses dog biscuit that I spent days making with Deidara. Everyone had their own homemade treats and gobbled them up happily, giving me endless kisses afterward. Pakkun even rolled over and let me touch the pads of his paws in gratitude. When they all piled on top of me I was lost in a fit of giggles. Kakashi's eyes flickered from the words of his book to watching me interact with his puppies; his eyes took on a soft look the more my happiness filled the air. He let out a relieved breath, even if I changed in the Akatsuki, I was still me, I was still one of his precious people.

I let out the softest sigh and another giggle pushed past my lips. This, this was exactly what I needed to de-stress and forget about the impending disaster that might happen tomorrow. My mind needed to be clear and I just needed to have a breath of fresh air and Kakashi provided that for my brief escape from the real world. I smelled slightly of dog but it was welcomed and I felt like I was floating on a cloud of dogs with all the soft fur sitting on and around me.

Finally, I sat myself back up, still petting Bull in my lap and Ūhei who took over my left hand.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm?" His eyes briefly met mine before going back to roaming over the smutty book.

"I know you helped 'Tachi with his growth in the ANBU and well, he is really sick." That got his full attention. "I'm doing a surgery on him tomorrow and there is a slim chance he will make it. He's staying at Shisui's old house right now so before everything happens, I know he'd be happy to see you." This was the first time I had fully acknowledged that the surgery might fail and I want him to see everyone at least one more time. My eyes stung and Bull licked my cheek again to get me to feel better. I was terrified of tomorrow.

"Maa Maa, I don't need to do that." My eyes shot open in surprise and shock, was he crazy. I know Kaksahi doesn't like loss and he has experienced so much in his life but to not say goodbye or good luck just in case.

"Wha-wait why?" He sensed my plight and got satisfaction, Kakashi loved to troll people more than anything else in the world. He put on a smile, one that was comforting and full of faith in me. Bull got off my lap at a nod from his master. He placed his hands on my shoulders and stared me directly in my eyes.

"Because I have faith that he'll survive if he's in your hands." I wrapped my arms around his abdomen and tucked my head into his flack jacket. His chest rumbled with mirth and then we were tackled by his ninken and smooshed into nuzzles and kisses from them all. I was still tense with the pressure of failure but the support radiating from Kakashi and his words, the words of my sensei believing in me lightened that feeling even if just barely.

"That's enough guys, let us up." The weight of the dogs got off my back and Kakashi sat us both up and I let go of him. I stood up and dusted off the dog hair, crunched leaves, and dirt from my clothing.

"Well, thanks for that Kashi-sensei. I'll see you later, I have a dinner to get to. I wanna spar with you and see how I compare now…and I wanna see all the cool new Jutsu you've learned." I spun on my heel and gave him a wave.

"Bye my cute little kitten." I froze in my steps and spun around, jaw dropped and extremely confused. Kakashi was basically reveling in my shock and he was glowing with amusement.

"What the hell kinda name is that?" I almost felt like I was at a loss for words.

"Well none of you are my cute little soldiers anymore so since you always seem to play like a kitten…" He trailed off and I got the meaning, it was just a kitten?! "Perhaps my cute little lion is better? Naruto-kun already has cute little fox and Sasuke took my cute little duckbutt." He shrugged nonchalantly like these nicknames weren't created just for the amusement of embarrassing me and pissing off Naruto and Sasuke, though imagining Kakashi calling Sasuke his 'cute little duckbutt' is funny as hell and might be worth keeping the name kitten.

"All of those are terrible." I deadpanned, feeling flustered at the same time, it was so…weird.

"Maa Maa, I think I like kitten best." He was basically talking to himself at this point and not wasting any more time, I jetted off yelling a quick hello to Iruka and Naruto. If I was late in getting properly ready for this dinner, Hanabi and Hiashi would have my head for not having proper attire and etiquette when having 'special' guests over. Knowing how long it has been since anything of the sort, it's going to take a while to be cleaned and done up appropriately. I rushed home and right when my chakra entered the threshold of my house Rukia grabbed my arm and began dragging me to the personal spa/bath house.

"Finally you are home Hinata-hime. Hanabi-hime and the other servants have been waiting for you so we can get you ready. It has been so long since we've gotten to dress you up, everyone is very excited especially with how beautiful you have become!" I was practically dragged through the doorway and hit by an intense steam that smelled of a minty hibiscus. Hanabi was already in the basin of specialized green tea spring water, getting her skin scrubbed raw. Before I had time to do anything, I was being stripped by multiple Hyuga branch women who were the ones to help me since I was just a baby. They were all still lovely even with the addition of wrinkles and graying hair, if not a bit basic looking like many others in my clan and once more I was reminded how much my hair stood out sometimes.

"Ahh just what I love, multiple women undressing me." I mumbled out and got a snort of a laugh from Rukia and Hanabi giggled into her hand.

"I see your humor has not changed my lady."

"Nee-chan, don't be so vulgar." I shrugged and let them dump me into the first stone basin to scrub all of the dirt and grime off of me from my journey and lack of self-care. I was scrubbed with a sponge and a sugar-scrub made with the essence of lavender. They took extra care to not rub too hard on my healing shoulder. Once they were positive all of my dry skin was rubbed off and my skin was once again clean, I was put into a fresh bath and had my hair shampooed and conditioned, man having somebody do that for me was amazing and probably what I missed most about getting pampered. Another two women worked together to shave hair from _everywhere_ on my body. I did a relatively ok job shaving myself when I was gone but sometimes there just isn't time for that you know? Finally I was put into the tea bath and had one more scrub this time it was green and I had no idea what it was made of. It was cool against my skin and burned as it was washed off with the hot water. Hanabi was already getting dressed and she was helping Sanada put flowers in her hair.

I got out of the warm water and was patted dry with a towel before I was rubbed down in a smell-less moisturizer. Ahh nothing like a bunch of older women rubbing lotion all over my naked body, it totally isn't awkward for me. The first time I could remember this happening I freaked out and my whole face turned bright red, my escape attempt failed miserably. A bunch of women who can see through walls were bound to catch my naked and running body.

I had my bandages redone and a robe silk robe was slipped on my body. I was pushed into a chair to get my hair dried and pinned while somebody else worked on putting makeup on my face. They skipped the face powders and added a rose blush and a pink glossy lip paint slightly darker than my natural lip color. My eyes were lined softly in black and just the smallest sheen was added on my eyelids over top the soft brown in my crease. Mascara was added to my lashes softly and I'm so glad nobody stabbed out my eye.

"Nee-chan what color Kimono would you like to wear?" Hanabi called out sweetly, looking through mothers closet to find me something to wear. At this point there was no turning back and as sweet and soft as Hanabi is, she is no-nonsense and would tie me down if she had to. My nails were re-painted from the, the color I chose in the Akatsuki, to a soft barely noticeable pink.

"You pick your favorite for me Hime." Her pale eyes glanced back at me, taking in my makeup and partially done hair before going deeper into the closet for whatever she had her eye on. My hair was curled at the ends and there was a small french braid wrapping around from my right side to the left where my hair was pulled into a low, slightly loose side ponytail, a thick pink ribbon tied around the middle as well as at the end. My bangs were swooped to the side and you could just barely see the purple diamond seal on my forehead. I slid the robe off and put on my undergarments. Hanabi came out carrying a kimono the same color as my hair. She helped me put it on and tie the obi and chord around my waist properly, fixing my bow so it wasn't crooked. The kimono was heavy and slightly difficult to move in but the fabric was extremely soft and silky against my skin.

The kimono was a navy blue that faded into a purple shade at the bottom. Large White and yellow flowers were inked on the bottom and on the base of the sleeves before becoming more sparse the further up they went. There were green leaves and a few small pink flowers as color accents as well. It went down to my feet and left no room for any wild movements, I miss the short Kimonos I could fight in but wearing one of mothers made me feel good, happy. For the final touch I added Konan's butterfly to my hair and looked in the mirror. Damn, it's been a while since I looked so…regal?

Hanabi was dressed as elegant if not more than I am. Her hair was pin straight and her bangs were pinned back with just one piece falling down, there were soft white carnations braided in the parts that were pinned up as well as a few crystal clips here and there. Her makeup was effortless and made her look that much more adorable, not that she needed it. Her lips were glossy pink and her cheeks extra rosy hued with her usual blush underneath the powder. Her skin was glowing and soft and her eyes were lined with a soft brown on the top and a purple on the waterline. Her lashes were long without the need of mascara and had the softest tan-pink eyeshadow on her lids with a tan only a few shades darker than her skin to add depth. Combining that with her soft, completely adorable shy smile she was truly the epitome of a (warrior) princess.

Her kimono was black based a very silky and shiny material that draped perfectly on her. It had pink and white Sakura flowers with a petals strewn about the fabric and the Hyuga clan proudly displayed on the back like mine. The sleeves were long and just barely left room for her fingertips to peak out. She had on classic sandals and her eyes were shining bright as she looked in the mirror. Her bow was tied perfectly and I smiled softly at the sight. She is so adorable oh my gosh.

"You look beautiful Hime."

"Ah, t-thank you. So do you Nee-chan!" A-fricking-dorable. Rukia smiled at the both of us.

"You both look lovely, now. It is about ready for your guests to arrive so please head to the front to escort your guests to dinner, Hyuga-sama is waiting." I held out my hand for Hanabi and she eagerly grabbed it, I gave her hand a squeeze and she gave one back.

"Remember. Hidan is loud and an asshole but don't let him intimidate you, he's kind of an idiot sometimes. Kakuzu looks scary…actually he is kind of scary." I chuckled and tried to envision what each of them were going to wear, maybe Itachi provided them clothes or at least Hidan hopefully bought a shirt and not another leather and fur coat that made him look like a pimp. No way in hell did Kakuzu buy anything but hopefully he has something that isn't his normal Akatsuki garb. Oh well, I guess I'll find out soon.

"I remember!" We made it to the entrance to wait and dad was dressed in his formal Tan and white Hyuga head Yukuta, his hair was brushed and down long and soft, his scar was worn proudly and his shoulders were back and broad. His face was stern but not unkind. He looked like a leader. He looked over to Hanabi and I, nodded in approval.

"You both look well my daughters." Hanabi and I both bowed our heads slightly, smiling. He softened at that.

"Thanks papa/otousan." We replied giddily. "Is Nii-san coming to dinner?" I questioned, hoping I would get to see Neji finally since he was training when I got back.

"Yes, he is heading to us as we speak."

"Hell yeah." I punched my hand into the air in excitement and Hanabi giggled, father letting out a huff of a laugh as well.

"I should have assumed your mouth didn't mature on your mission." A deep, proper voice spoke from the hallway and then Neji popped out with a small smile on his face. He was dressed similar to dad but somehow he looked more princely. There was a white cloth around his forehead to hide the seal but it only seemed to make him look more regal. Whoever marries my big bro is going to be a lucky girl. "It is good to see you Hinata-hime. Hello Hanabi-chan, you both look very lovely."

"Hello Neji-nii, you look good as well." I let go of Hanabi and ran (well moved as fast as I could in the formal attire) and hugged him tightly.

"Nii-san!" He placed a hand on my head carefully as to not mess up my hair. Man, he even smelled like a prince. I grinned up at him and he gave me a composed, kind smile back.

"I am glad to see you are unharmed and have returned home safe." I higged him tightly once more before letting go, Neji wasn't one for too much physical contact and on a team with people like Lee and Gai, he probably gets enough unsolicited hugs.

"Honestly, did you expect anything else from me?" I questioned teasingly, patting his head slightly in a fake condescend manner.

"I have learned to not expect anything if you are involved." Neji shook his head, his long strands of hair swaying with the movements. Even with his tone laced with mirth, he was still dead serious about his statement. He's not wrong though, as much as I try to plan things out, I'm impulse and change things whether or not for the better is TBA.

"Smart choice, I don't know what to expect from myself either." My lips curled into a devious smirk as I thought of Neji newfound high ranking position in the clan. "So… did the elders lose their shit when they realized I was gone?" Neji's eyes flashed with amusement in remembrance of when the elders found out I had gone 'rogue'. I'm hoping it was a giant cluster fuck to deal with for those arrogant assholes.

"Ah, yes it was quite the dramatic scene and to top it off, leaving a branch member in charge…unthinkable. They were enraged, I presume your meeting with them later on is going to be…interesting to say the least." I shuddered at the thought of meeting with the elders…oh fuck. I'm majorly screwed and in for the most elegant yet demeaning tongue lashing of my life. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll keel over before they summon me.

"Well, shit." I muttered dejectedly and got a pointed look from Hiashi on my choice in words…I wanted to say fuck so I went with a compromise that was less vulgar. Oh man, his uptight rules with cursing are going to be put to the test tonight. I smoothed out the fabric of my kimono and the door was opened by a branch member a few years younger than me, Han, who had escorted Hidan and Kakuzu through the compound to our manor. Han gave a quick bow and scurried away before I could thank him or say hello. Hidan strutted through the doorway, Kakuzu following closely behind. I was completely baffled with the both of them. Hidan wasn't dressed traditionally like we were, instead he was wearing dress pants and a deep red button up that was untucked and undone maybe one button too many but he was dressed much more fancy than I was expecting. **(A/N trying to impress the family now are we Hidan?) **Kakuzu was dressed similarly but with a green shirt that matched his eyes. He even took his mask off and traded it for one more similar to Kakashi's.

"Hey hot bitch, the family of hot bitch." Hidan winked with a grin and then was hit in the head by Kakuzu. Neji narrowed his eyes towards the Jashinist. "What the hell you old geezer." Hanabi looked at them in shock before turning away to giggle into her palm. Neji and dad were both stone faced as they looked over our guests. Dad's eye twitched at the nickname, I guess calling his baby girl a hot bitch is a no-no, Kakuzu understood that much at least.

"Show some semblance of respect damn fool." The eldest of the Zombie combo husked out lowly. "Your home is adequate, as expected of a noble clan ." It sounded odd for Kakuzu to thank anybody but I guess growing up the way he did, he still has some manners even if they are rarely (never) put to use. That and he was going to be paid by me today so he was in a good mood. He liked money and luxurious things he doesn't have to pay for so this is his opinion on a good night. Hanabi moved from hiding slightly behind Neji and I to stand in front of both men who practically dwarfed her small form. Hidan looked down at her with a brow raised and then Hanabi bowed to them.

"H-Hello Hidan-Sama, Kakuzu-sama. W-welcome to our home, I would like to t-thank you for bringing father home to us." Her cheeks were flushed as Hidan grinned down to her. It wasn't malicious, actually he looked amused if anything. Kakuzu gave her a nod of his head in return.

"It was a mutually beneficial transaction." Leave it to him to think of it as a bank transaction…actually it was. I totally bribed him.

"O-oh, Nee-chan was right when she m-mentioned you really like money."

"Yes well money is the universal language, it makes the world work." Hidan looked ready to intervene and give Kakuzu a piece of his mind for his unholy views but one look from me and he stopped. I was not having him tell Hanabi all the joys of pain and chaos. Hanabi was intrigued by Kakuzu's notion and gave him a soft smile for the knowledge.

"I d-didn't know that. Thank you for y-your wisdom." Kakuzu seemed to approve of Hanabi, he liked her more than me when we met that's for sure. I guess being smart as well as calling his opinions of money wise is a good start to getting him to like you.

"This polite little kid is your sister! What the fuck happened to you?" Hidan was chuckling in amusement. Kakuzu took a look between Hanabi and I, silently agreeing with Hidan's question. Hanabi let out a laugh, she thought Hidan-despite his language-was really funny and by the way I wasn't annoyed with him, she knew we were good friends.

"Dunno." I shrugged noncommittally with a small smirk. "I too question how I ended up so fucked every time I realize that we are friends." I shoved Hidan with my palm just enough to get him to move from the pressure. That damn cocky shit eating grin was still on his face and he swing an arm over my shoulder, magenta eyes taking in more of the house with an impressed glance.

"This place is massive."

"Hinata." Dad's voice was slightly warning, and I stopped messing around. "Escort our guests to the dining room, I will join you shortly." He turned to Hidan and Kakuzu, gave both of them the smallest and most stiff bows I've ever witnessed. "Welcome to the Hyuga compound, if you need anything do not hesitate to ask my children." With a swift turn, he stalked off and I was extremely confused on what he was doing.

"Dude's a stiff but he's god one kick ass scar."

"It does look pretty badass doesn't it?" I commented, as much as I was sad bout how he got the scar, Hidan is right. It makes him look like a complete and utter badass.

"I have to agree, Hyuga-sama's scar is very impressive in look and meaning." Neji finally spoke up since they had arrived, his pale eyes were taking everything in since Hidan and Kakuzu arrived and he was neutral with Kakuzu, he disliked Hidan almost immediately. However, he was willing to put that aside and be cordial because he was one of the two responsible for saving his uncle, my father.

"Ey hot bitch, who the fuck is this pansy." Even with Hidan's superior size, Neji's hard glare was unwavering towards the Jashinist. Hidan just has this miraculous talent of pissing off majority of the people he meets for the first time, Neji not excluded from this list of people.

"My name is Neji Hyuga, partial leader of the Hyuga clan and cousin to Hinata-hime and Hanabi-chan. Since you are a guest, it would do you well to not call the clan heiress something as demeaning and disrespectful as 'Hot Bitch'."

"Fat chance. This godless fucker is your brother… Are you sure you weren't adopted?"

"Ah Neji Hyuga, you were a recent entry into the Bingo Book, your bounty is low as of now but with your position of power you are surely to grow into a cash cow." Ahh, how much I love hearing that my brother is going to be a high bounty for somebody to try to cash in, thanks Kakuzu. Hanabi seemed completely enthralled with Kakuzu, everything he said and did interested her so much and when she asked to hold his hand to see his stitching, instead of shoving her away and calling her a brat, he held his hand out to her. He kind of has that gruff fatherly vibe about him I think and it's great. Hanabi has never opened up to somebody so quickly and it being a dude as big and intimidating as Kakuzu is amazing.

"Ok so instead of doing…" I gestured between the three males, "whatever the hell this is, lets eat. Follow me." I walked forward, my sandals clicking on the wooden flooring. When Neji moved to pass by me, I grabbed his sleeve and got his attention. "Look I know Hidan is…well he's Hidan and the nickname isn't the best, coming from him it's the nicest thing he can come up with so just play nice and don't punch him in the face no matter how bad you want to." He sighed and nodded, pressing a hand to my back to get us to speed up a bit.

"Only fate will decide." I rolled my eyes at the small smile adorning his face, that was as good of a yes as I was going to get. And him adding in fate was just his way of messing around, Zabuza had taunted that mindset out of Neji years ago. We entered the dining room, it was done up immaculately to impress company. Though everything was in shades of white and tan with lavender strewn in, it was simple and elegant. I slid off my shoes, and went to my place at the right end table, kneeling on the pillow with my hands in my lap. Hanabi took her place across from me, dragging Kakuzu to sit beside her. Hidan took the spot at my side and Neji took a spot at one end of the table, the other being saved for dad. As soon as everyone was seated, maids rushed in with plates of traditional foods like Sashimi, Yakitori, a steaming pot of homemade miso soup, a heaping bowl of steamed vegetables (curtsey of health freak Neji), and Sukiyaki. I specifically requested them to make Hidan spare ribs and Kakuzu monkfish liver. They also set a pot of the Hyuga secret blend of green tea as well as my own little pot of iced, bitter berry citrus tea. I felt so much love knowing that my clansmen remembered my favorite drink. Kakuzu let out a low whistle at the sight of the perfectly cooked food that had to have been prepared since this morning.

"Holy fuck, this is the cushy life you were living as a clan heiress! Damn, I could get used to meals like this." I agreed, one of the perks of being a clan child so high on the food chain was the food. I leaned over to Hidan, Neji's eyes watching me without my knowledge.

"So uh thanks for you know dressing so nice… you look good. I didn't think you had it in you, honestly. I expected you and Kakuzu to show up in sweats, but I know my father was pleased at the sign of respect." He smiled, showing of all of his teeth in it and his chest puffed out in pride.

"Gotta make a good fuckin' impression on my future family." He grinned and eyed me up and down quickly. "Besides, when you look so damn hot, I gotta pull my weight too." I rolled my eyes but smiled nonetheless. Hidan has noticeably been on his best behavior and it's surprising. When he isn't so hostile around people he want's to slice up, he's pretty ok at being around a lot of people. Before any of us could begin to eat, father opened the door and Hanabi, Neji, and I stood up until he was seated so that we could take our place once again at the table. His eyes moved over the food in approval, seeing as everything was cooked and presented properly.

"Before we begin to eat, as a representation for my gratitude of returning me to my family the Hyuga clan would like to offer our aid for as long as you are seeking solace in the village. Alongside that, take these gifts as thanks." He handed Kakuzu and Hidan each a sealing scroll. They looked at it and then back to my father, Kakuzu's eyes were gleaming that gleam when he gets money. I leaned over to take a peak at Hidan's scroll and my jaw dropped, he didn't open it but it had writing on it saying it was a new more high tech three pronged scythe that had chains that were almost unbreakable. Hidan was grinning dangerously excited. I can't believe after me telling them brief details about both of them, dad had such perfect gifts made in less than 8 hours.

"I thought you were a stuck up prick but I like ya. Jashin-sama will be very pleased with this new weapon." Hell yeah he would, the sketch of the Scythe was rolled up in the scroll and one look, it was kick ass. It looked to be the same size of Hidan's old one but the red blades were now a deep silver and curved in a more menacing manner. The handle was black with what looked like bloody symbols of Jashin down it as well as a deep, bloody red handle with a black chain with a band to attach it to his hand.

"I accept your gift, it is extremely pleasing. Thank you Hyuga-san." Kakuzu bowed his head and father gave him the same in return.

"Now let us eat, I presume everything is to your liking?" Kakuzu and Hidan both grunted a yes. I put my hands together in prayer and bowed my head in thanks for the food and then we all got to dig in. I plated my food with a bit of everything…except the steamed cauliflower because that stuff is just not good. Hidan piled up on the spare ribs and various other meat while Kakuzu seemed pleased to get a healthy amount of his liver based dishes. Neither were keen on vegetables so they put noodle based dishes and rice instead. Hanabi poured tea for Kakuzu and herself, I poured it for Father and Hidan, and Neji poured for himself.

Dinner was never that lively in the compound but Hidan and I talked and soon everyone joined in, Kakuzu taking the time to answer every question Hanabi had as well as teaching her the proper 'rules' of money.

"And this one time after a spar between the old geezer and I…" I put my hand over Hidan's mouth to stop him from telling the story. Somehow, Neji had asked a question and it turned into them making fun of things I've done.

"Don't you dare." I hissed out, I'd already had Neji tell about my stupid fear of birds when I was younger and don't need any more things embarrassing to be known.

"I would like to hear the rest Hinata-hime."

"M-me as well Nee-chan." Hanabi smiled at me with a slight hint of mirth.

"Ah, even I would like to hear this my daughter." I could feel his smirk against my palm and with the pleading eyes of Hanabi, I relented, hanging my head low. Who thought this dinner was a good idea again?

"Right ok so I fucking smashed Kakuzu into the ground and broke a hole into the lower floor and no way in hell was I fixing it so we left the hole. Hot bitch was reading some dumb book and walking when I, being the amazing person I am, tried to warn her but she didn't fucking listen like a hardheaded idiot and fell through, breaking her hand. She let out the fucking girliest scream I'd ever heard. One second she was there and the next she was gone through the floor." I cringed at the memory, Hidan, Kakuzu and Suigetsu laughed at me for days. As funny as it was, it was completely and utterly embarrassing to eat shit like than and oh god the noise that came out of my mouth was the highest squeal I'd ever made.

"At least I'm not the one who cut their own finger off trying to play a stupid game."

"Shut the fuck up about that. Jashin-sama you're annoying sometimes." Hidan's language made my father twitch, he said nothing against it though I'm guessing he isn't the biggest fan of the bloodthirsty Jashinist. Neji still stared tensely at Hidan. He knew he was dangerous, Hidan radiated danger but seeing that Hidan was just an asshole and not an actual threat (well not at the moment) he was able to enjoy the stories of my time in the Akatsuki. Though, a few times they but heads and we had to change the topic before things got too out of hand. Neji was being surprisingly protective.

"K-Kakuzu-sama what did you think of Nee-chan w-when you met her?" Kakuzu pursed his unmasked lips for a second before replying.

"I thought your sister was a reckless idiot who would die early." Yeah, he told me I was going to die within a day of meeting one another. "She is still a reckless idiot as well as a brat, but she is intelligent and a strong Kunoichi who plays to her strengths well. You have a good role model, though you seem to be more mature than her already." I grinned at Kakuzu and Hanabi gave him a wide-eyed look of awe when he spoke.

"Nee-chan is cool. Kakuzu-sama you are cool too. You are very scary, greedy, and a bad guy b-but you are smart and I l-like you!" Hanabi's cheeks flushed as she shouted louder than usual at Kakuzu. He looked down at her and placed a hand on her head, avoiding the flowers as he pat her. She squirmed happily at his actions.

"Ha, greedy old bastard, I can't believe you got a cute fuckin' little squirt to not run away in terror. Jashin-sama would like your soul before you go so damn soft." Hidan smirked at Kakuzu, taunting his friend to retaliate.

"Shut your mouth or I'll kill you." Kakuzu growled, slowly letting his KI out and directing it to Hidan.

"Try it old man!" Hidan gripped a small knife in his hand and pointed it at Kakuzu. Neither could kill the other so Hanabi giggled in amusement at their odd show of affection for one another.

"Kakuzu-san would you like an aid?" Neji offered easily, standing up and preparing his chakra to ready an attack. The atmosphere just got a bit more tense…this was more how I expected the night to go.

"I'll sacrifice you too pretentious asshole." Hidan pointed the knife at Neji as well, gritting his teeth and glaring. This was more likely to end up in a fight that had no good outcomes.

"Oh my god, you guys are like toddlers." I finally stood up as well and glared between the testosterone filled boys, First Kiba then Sasuke and now Neji, ugh guys are so difficult in their stupid pissing matches that seem to happen for no damn reason.

"Neji-san stand down." Hiashi ordered and Neji stopped his actions entirely, nodding in acceptance.

"Yes Hiashi-sama." He took a seat and Kakuzu and Hidan both did as well, neither of them really wanting to fight each other at least not inside my home.

"Hinata-chan, it is time for our guests to leave, please accompany them on their way out. Hanabi-chan, say your goodbyes, you have training early." I drank down one more sip of tea before standing up and bowing quickly, dad gave me a small smile and I returned it.

"Got it Otousan." I moved to slide my shoes back on, the two large men following suit.

"Yes Papa." Hanabi replied before getting to her feet. Father stood up and bowed.

"Thank you once again; however, Hidan-san, my patience can only go so far and if you refer to my daughter in such crude ways you will lose more than a finger." Neji smirked at the statement and I let out a small nervous chuckle.

"Yeah yeah." Ahh no yelling or blow up, thank Jashin. "Thanks for the food and scythe Hyuga."

"I-It was nice to meet you Hidan-sama." Hanabi bowed and smiled shyly at him. "You are very funny Hidan-sama even if you talk worse than Nee-chan."

"You too kid."

"Thank you for the hospitality Hyuga-san." Kakuzu was ready to leave when Hanabi wrapped her hands around him, her head barely reaching his waist. "Hanabi-chan I enjoyed meeting you as well." He pat her head again and she smiled brightly up at him.

"Goodbye Kakuzu S-sempai, I will c-come visit you soon." He raised a brow at the new honorific but accepted it anyways. I feel like I should be worried Hanabi wants to learn from a greedy killer but I guess it could be worse and he isn't going to hurt her. Plus if he gets that happy of a smile from her, I can't say no to her talking to him.

"Very well." He nodded gruffly and removed her from him, slid up his mask, and held the door open for me to walk out of before following behind me. Hidan was waiting for us and we left to weave through the maze of a compound to get to the gate.

"Hime really likes you, I've never seen her open to somebody so fast." I commented and Kakuzu grunted but wasn't annoyed in the slightest. I think they have some odd unspoken friendship bond thing that makes no sense but it's adorable. Leave it to Hanabi to befriend the grumpy miser who kills people who annoys him and get him to actually not hate her.

"She knows greatness when she sees it. Hanabi-san is a bright kid."

"Yeah, she is." We made it to the front gates. "Thanks for coming over even if you pissed off my dad and brother…Hidan. I'll talk to Tsunade later about getting you cleared for missions fully. Hidan, go to T&I tomorrow and they will give you someone to Sacrifice after getting information out of him." As much as I don't agree with the way of Jashin fully, I wouldn't want to hinder Hidan from his religion and if he's doing it in a 'better' way then I will do what I can to help. I slid my scroll out of my sleeve and Handed it to Kakuzu. "This is all the money I promised." He took a look at it before handing it back to me.

"Keep it. Your father gave me more than what you had promised so you are no longer indebted to me. Save it for when you decide to bribe me again."

"I..uh..the fuck..ok. I guess I'll see you later then? If your not going to take it, at least know this… if need money in a pinch, gamble against Lady Tsunade." I totally sold her out, but she needs to learn never to fucking gamble again and hopefully having Kakuzu take all her shit, she'll stop or you know I'll get a good laugh at her pissy attitude towards people the next day and how they reek with fear.

"Hm." Kakuzu left through the gate leaving Hidan and I alone. He looked just as confused as I did with the misers actions.

"What the fuck was that?" I questioned.

"Like hell if I know." Hidan rounded on me, grinning devilishly. Last time he looked like that, he promised to make me love him so I was a bit wary of what he was going to say. I just…ugh…I can't think about romance like this right now. Maybe one day I can really see how I feel about people but for now, I just need to do what I was possibly sent here to do. "Your family is fucking wild." I snickered, that is very true. He stepped closer to me and I moved back just bit. "You look fuckin hot in that shit, though I think when you are covered in blood it's even better." He backed me into the wall and used his finger to lift my face to meet his. "Don't forget hot bitch, one day you're going to fall helplessly for me and our chaotic love."

"How could I forget that?" I was entranced as his magenta eyes burned into mine, they were glittering in the moonlight. One of his hands deftly played with the Jashin symbol he put on my necklace and the other was pressed right against my head. He was buzzing with some type of energy and I felt the air temperature raise around me. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against my ear, I could feel his breath against the shell. His tongue shot out of his mouth and licked the curve of my ear before pulling away cackling out a laugh.

"Bye Hot Bitch, you're fucking adorable. Ahh thank god for Jashin-sama's soon to be approval cuz next time you look at me like that, I'm kissing you for real." Hidan left the compound at top speed, still laughing as he left. I was stunned for a second before heading back to my room to change, my breathing was very strained and my ear tingled. Fuck me, what did I get myself into.

I got back from the gate and went straight to Hanabi's room to tell her goodnight. After taking my shoes off to not make any sounds as I walked over the tatami mat flooring. I slid open the door and she was just now slipping under her covers, her face was cleaned and hair done back into her normal style. She gave me a happy yet tired smile as she rested her head back against the pillow, her eyes fluttering as she tried to ward off sleep.

"Mhm…Hi Nee-chan." She mumbled softly. I sat on the edge of her bed and stroked her hair, she nuzzled into my hand. "Today was fun…I think…I think Hidan-sama likes you. That's why Neji-nii was so… defensive." She struggled to get the words out as sleep was becoming harder and harder to fight. Ahh, the ever observant Hyuga. Neji was being more defensive than usual. I thought it was because Hidan was a slightly mentally unstable killer but maybe she is right and he was trying to protect me like a real big brother. I pressed my lips to her forehead and turned off the lamp.

"I think you might be right Hime." She responded with a timid smile and then her body was still, the only sign she was living was the slow rise and fall of her chest. I pulled the blanked up to her neck to make sure she wouldn't get cold and gave her one last kiss, happy to be able to put her to sleep once again. "Goodnight." I whispered before slipping out of her room quietly and heading down the corridor to my room. I was deep in my thoughts, tonight was extremely fun even with Hidan and Neji ready to kill one another, it definitely went better than I thought. I kept trying to forget about earlier, but somehow I could still feel Hidan's lips on my ear and his promise to kiss me for real. I didn't even know what I was supposed to feel about that: excited, nervous, confused? I was feeling a mix of so many I couldn't distinguish it. So like the emotionally balanced ninja I am, I shoved all thoughts and feelings on the situation deep down. It will blow up at some point just like everything else, but today is not that day.

When I finally made it to my room I happily undid the Obi, and carefully took off the layers of my kimono. I laid the fabric flat on the ground to not ruin it and stretched my body, free from the restraints of fabric. I muffled through my clothing before deciding to just wear my pajamas to meet Deidara. I had a bit of time before I needed to leave so I thought of what I needed to say to him. Deidara held grudges like nobodies business but it was also hard to get him so mad at somebody so I had my work cut out for me. As selfish as it sounds, I don't want to lose him, he's one of my best friends and a person I always counted on when we were in the Akatsuki. I had to find a way to tell him the truth while also lying to him about Tobi about everything. I fear that is he leaves, he'll die and I have to try to prevent that. I slid the silky lilac pajamas on, the shirt falling loosely over me. Carefully I removed the pins and decorations in my hair and ran my fingers through the long strands to undo the braid and ponytail. The lengthy midnight strands tumbled loosely down my back. I wet a washcloth and meticulously scrubbed the makeup off of my face, I tried to focus more on the repetitive swirling of the cloth against my skin versus the extreme nerves that I was feeling.

I was counting down the minutes until I had to leave, I so wanted to push this off until later but for the intensity that is sure to come tomorrow and the week to come, I need my mind as clear as possible and I can't be worrying about my strained friendship with the blonde bomber boy in the middle of it. One minute…I carefully pulled on some thick socks and grabbed a jacket to keep warm in the chilled spring air. I suppressed my chakra and kept my steps silent, creeping around the house hoping nobody (mainly my father, an elder, or Neji) would catch me sneaking out minutes before midnight. As soon as I made it out of the threshold of the house, the cool air made me shiver slightly. Home stretch, I need to make it out of the compound unseen by anyone who would ask questions or say something to my dad. The night sky was relatively starless and the moon was only a sliver, there wasn't much natural light and once again I praised the Hyuga genes coursing through my veins because my eyesight was only slightly hindered by the night sky, if anything it was now the same level as any non-dojutsu wielding person.

A guard passed by me and I slunk into the shadows, her Byakugan wasn't active so I went undetected. When Her footsteps were nothing but the faintest of sounds, I pushed off the wall and bolted, throwing myself over the wall of the compound instead of going through the-now closed-front gate. My chakra sparked back to life only slightly and I spread it out, searching for even the faintest hint of the explosive and smokey chakra of the resident terrorist. After only a few minutes, I got a lock, just the faintest hint of that chakra coursing through him waiting, ready to detonate at the slightest movement-and I followed it until I found him, sitting up lazily in a tree. His eye flickered down to me, taking in everything at a glance and his eye narrowed in some kind of frustration before he hopped down and stood in front of me, using his slightly superior height to his advantage. There was a frown marring his usual smug or crazed expressions.

"You wanted to talk un, so talk. I'm not Danna un but I'm not a patient person hmm." His voice lacked the normal excitement and liveliness, he was detached and annoyed. He was more cold and calculating than the fun and wild person I knew, I didn't mind when he was like this, it was usually when trying to figure out something but when it was directed at me, it was disheartening. He pressed his back against the tree and slid down it, sitting down whit his arms crossed. I carefully sat myself in front of him so we could have a perfect view of each other.

"I-" I stopped for a second trying to piece the millions of thoughts running through my head into a functioning sentence. "Ugh ok, first I need to know exactly what you are pissed for and then we can go from there…right?" Huh, I never realized how little I actually apologized to people…I'm a shitty person. I usually am forgiven so effortlessly that I never remembered to truly fix something or I'd bribe my way out but it wont work this time…great.

"Dammit Hinata, you used me yeah. You manipulated me like those damn Iwa bastards, lying to me to make me be beneficial to your goals and not my own. At least I knew they were shady un." I flinched at the cold anger and betrayal radiating from his words, I would much rather have his angry hot headed screaming to this cold burn. He was less mad and more hurt, he felt like I treated him as shitty as the village he hated. And He's right, I did. I'm a shitty person. "You told me about that fucker _Tobi _un but didn't even think to tell me that you were still trying to bring him along. And _then_ your ass shows up all bloody when you are looking ready to die you tell me about bringing that damned manipulative Uchiha asshole along." His eyes were shining and not in a positive way, he was hissing at me in a loud whisper and I dug my fingers into my palms until I could feel the first derma layer breaking.

"I-I'm sorry. You're right about everything. I'm a shitty friend and a manipulative asshole. I-I have no excuses. I wanted to bring Tobi because well, he's hurting and miserable and if I could do something to stop him from trying to destroy the world I was going to do it. I should have told you though. I'm sorry, I'm-I'm an asshole." My voice came out cracked and strained as I talked, I hated myself sometimes. If I wasn't here, if the regular Hinata was here, this would have never happened. I have this hidden feeling that I stole something that wasn't mine to have and I keep fucking it up but then if I didn't, he'd be dead. They'd all be…gone. I'm not that Hinata, I never can be, and sometimes I feel like I should be the one who is gone and dead but I just have to use what I have until I reach my last breath. No turning back now.

"Hmph." He snorted indignantly and waited for me to continue.

"You, you were, you are my friend. You were the one of the only one who it never felt like there was an alternate reason for hanging out with me other than because you liked me for me, not to find out my secrets or to get something from me." His intense gaze lessened and his arms uncrossed slightly. We never broke our eye contact no matter how much I wanted to tear my eyes from his. "I-I wanted to bring you to my home, it's not perfect…my plan wasn't well thought out or goof and I didn't realize how not telling you everything would be so dickish of me…but I wanted you to come so-so you would stay alive! If we all left and you were there, I'm almost positive you would have died and it would have been worthless! If you died, it would hurt so damn much Deidara! There were always the dark times joining the Akatsuki but whenever we were together, we could just be…and live in the moment. I guess I never wanted to lose that, it's selfish really, I know I'm an asshole and probably deserve a whole lotta shit but you do mean a lot to me so I just did- I did what I thought could keep you safe and do damage control later. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

My voice went from calm to yelling to whimpering pathetically and Deidara said nothing, he just watched as I talked, as the angry tears at how much of a shitty friend I am fell from my eyes. I finally broke our eye contact, ready and accepting that he was going to hate me forever. There was a huff and indignant mumbling of curses before his soft, earthy-smelling hands licked away the tears until they stopped falling.

"Don't cry, you look more stupid than usual like that, yeah. You are an asshole and stupid un, but you're right about one thing. I like being your friend too yeah? You're fun and not a buzzkill even if friends with Uchiha-bastard and you respect what _true_ art is un. I guess I should be happy you want me alive to show my art to this tasteless village. You're not like Iwa un, but if you use me again I will showcase you as my most powerful art form hmm." There was a teasing lilt in his tone but I knew he was dead serious about blowing me up and honestly I deserve it. I don't deserve his forgiveness and yet it keeps being given to me, I just-ugh. I wrapped an arm around him tightly, burying my head into his chest and heaving out heavy breaths feeling like everything was too unreal. My hand gripped the one that licked my face and I lightly traced the outline of the slightly chapped mouth until it opened and bit down on my finger.

"I-heh, it's a deal. Leave it to you to make this into your art Dei." I snickered slightly, trying to shove down my self hate and just bask in the love and happiness that I was feeling for him not totally hating me and going off to bomb things until he dies. Now that I've had him in my life to make things sparkle and explode with fun, I don't know how to let it go.

"My art is spontaneous, it can't be contained to a specific moment un." I could envision the smug look on his tanned features and the proud way his eyes would glimmer when thinking of his art. It was so incredibly wild and so incredibly Deidara. The only thing at this point that mattered was he was staying, even when he felt betrayed, he is staying. He-He won't die yet, not on my account.

"I know Dei, I know." I paused for a second n realization and shot my head up to look at him in bewilderment. "Wait, did your fucking hands lick me!?" He let out a laugh full of mirth and amusement before holding his hands up, the tongues lolling out of their mouthes in a mocking gesture.

"They did it not me hmm." He shrugged like he had no control over the situation, arrogant smirk never leaving his lips. It was like a switch was flipped and Deidara was well Deidara again.

"What- thats not even possible-they belong to _you!_" I spluttered, confused and laughing and more confused for how I wasn't as grossed out as I should have been. I curled back into his warmth, the air was frigid and we were both glad for some kind of heat. We talked quietly for a bit before Shisui came up.

"So is that Shisui guy actually an Uchiha, like related to Itachi Uchiha un?"

"Hmm, yeah he's full blooded Uchiha, not that you'd know it with his actions. He doesn't have the Sharingan anymore though, _somebody_ ripped them out of his head."

"Brutal hmm. I guess don't hate that Uchiha, he made the bastard lose his cool and finally had to drop that stupid cool and composed facade yeah." Deidara bristled at even talking about Itachi but a second later he looked extremely pleased thinking of Shisui making Itachi react more in a few seconds than he'd ever seen. It only fueled Deidara's fire in wanting to break Itachi seeing that it is possible. It was a bit disconcerting on how bad he still wanted to kill Itachi but for now, that has to be put on the back burner until Itachi is at least not a walking corpse. My body was getting heavier the longer we sat and stared up at nothing. I needed to sleep before enduring on the most difficult medical endeavor possibly ever tomorrow. My chakra was at full capacity and all I needed was some sleep and a giant ass cup of coffee in the morning and together Sasori, me, and the team of specially chosen doctors will be the deciding factor of whether or not Itachi gets to live. Sleep was slowly taking the pensive blonde as well.

"Hinata-chan, get up and go to sleep un. I'm not getting sick because you decided to sleep outside." I slowly stood up, him following and rubbing a tired eye.

"Mhm ok, Night Dei, I'm glad you didn't leave yet." I mumbled into him, getting a hum of agreement and a pat on the back. He released me and made a bird to take him to the Uchiha compound faster. I stretched before turning and hopping over the wall, slinking back into my room and passing out almost the instant I hit the pillow, my mind blank and ready to focus solely on Itachi and keeping him alive. I mean, what could go wrong…right?


	25. A tree can't survive without its ROOT

(3d POV) _In tsunade's office during hinata and deidara's chat_

Tsunade was sitting at her desk, her face hardened and her anger was palpable. It wasn't often that the Lady Hokage had to truly be so stone cold but this situation called for everything but her normal demeanor. It was times like this when people could truly see why she was Hokage. Standing behind her, hidden in the shadows were two ANBU guards and all the attention was focused on who was sitting across from her. Danzo Shimura sat with his arms crossed and his old face scrunched into a menacing glare. He was not appreciative of being called to this office, the one that should have been his. Tsunade was ignorant, she was the student of his old teammate that soft hearted food and Danzo strongly disagreed with her position. He did everything in his power to prevent the council from letting her come to power but it was all for naught.

"Why did you drag me into this office Tsunade-hime? Surely if you have a problem to discuss you would have brought Homura and Koharu as well." His voice was deep, monotone, and like always it was grating to Tsunade's ears. He leaned back in his seat, face still scowling but he felt smug when her fingers gripped the desk, cracking it slightly. To him Tsunade was nothing more than an out of control brat with too much power and he intended to pry on that until she lost it, in turn showing she was incapable as Hokage leaving the spot open for him.

"As of this moment forward, Root is being dissolved and all of your subordinates are going to be assessed and integrate into either my ANBU squads or will be reinstated as regular ninja of Konohagakure." Danzo paused, this was unexpected and a grave setback that he would not allow to happen. Tsunade clasped her hands together and smirked, ruffling Danzo's feathers was something she always took pleasure in and with all the new information on how shitty of a person he is, it was that much more satisfying.

"No. That is unreasonable and I have done nothing but aid the village with my running of Root, the world is a dark place and I keep you from having to do the hard things Tsunade-hime, you should be more appreciative of my work for you and the village. Hiruzen and I made this agreement for a reason but I wouldn't expect a delusional woman like you to understand. Going forward with this is irrational and you will regret it…besides, the council will never agree to this merge." His voice had a sharp edge and Tsunade caught the underlying threat behind his words. She raised one sculpted brow as he spoke but did not interrupt him, even if he was insulting her.

"Perhaps in old age you have forgotten how things work but it will do you well to remember that I am the Hokage and I make all decisions the council is here to aid me in the right direction but I have final say. I am not Hiruzen-Sensei, he was softer on you because you were friends but I however, do not like you and will not allow you to operate however you desire." Tsunade raised her voice but only slightly, her presence was enough to get her point across. She was not playing. Danzo scowled harshly running over plans in his head, this new rule could not be allowed to pass and no way could it be given to the council or public before he has done something about it.

"What is the basis of your reasoning for ridding me of my control over the operations of Root?" Danzo took a deep breath and remained calm, his one eye boring into her brown ones. He need to know as much as possible to end this disastrous event before it can come to pass. There is a reason more than just her dislike of him to disband Root and Danzo needed to know who or what was the cause so he can take care of it. Tsunade's smug look only amplified at the question, he was playing right into her hand.

"Danzo Shimura, you are under suspicion for Treason, inhumane conduct in your workings of root, the cause of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, defaming a prized Shinobi and forcing him to turn rogue, the attempted murder of Shisui Uchiha, and defacing the dead bodies of the Uchiha in order to obtain their Sharingan for your own power. How do you plead?" Each word Tsunade spoke had the war hawk gritting his teeth and his eyes narrowing more and more. He stared as just annoyed and progressed into fury, how dare she. He was confused on how Tsunade could come to those conclusions, granted some of it was true but she should have no way of knowing that and in his mind, everything he has done has been for the benefit of the village.

"I plead not guilty." He spoke cold and harsh. "And I would love to know Tsunade-hime, how you came to the irrational conclusion that I, one of the biggest foundation pieces of our village, one who fights in the shadows for Konohagakure's protection, would be capable of such atrocities." He had the urge to scoff at her. He was beyond angry now, no way in hell should she know of his inner workings. None of his subordinates are able to speak out and none of the know enough to know if this is true or not. All those involved in the Shisui incident are dead now.

"Itachi Uchiha returned to the village as of yesterday and his story aligned with the one Shisui Uchiha gave years ago…the one the council chalked up to a dream while comatose." That was completely unforeseen, Itachi promised to never return to the village in honor of his bother's life being spared. Danzo knows that if it were to slip that Itachi was home, Sasuke might take care of his little Itachi problem for him. Either way, Itachi Uchiha must die tomorrow alongside Tsunade and Shiusi, it would be an unfortunate event, truly.

"And you would believe the tails of a psychopath and his friend? You are more naive than I thought. If this baseless interrogation is over, I would like to know where the Uchiha is being held, if the traitor is ruining my life, I need to be prepared to meet with him."

"That is not possible, nor would I give you that information. All you are at liberty to know is that he is about to undergo a life saving surgery in a few hours. But afterward, I'd love for you two to chat. For now, you are not going to be held in custody but you will be watched and if there are any suspicious actions you take within the next 48 hours, you will be locked and held in prison like the scum I think you are." Tsunade leaned back, the gleam in Danzo's eye was exactly what she and Jiraiya expected to see. Perfect. Both plans were in motion and it was time to see who would come out on top, the war hawk or the village. "Now get out of my office." She shooed him away without a second glance.

Itachi was resting in his hospital bed waiting to go into his procedure. Hinata made sure to give him a chance to get to talk to everyone willing and he's had people in and out saying their good luck's or goodbye's all morning. Sasuke had slept with Itachi that night, the younger brother feeling like he was a child again as he was comforted by the presence of his precious brother. They had spent much of their time together, Sasuke telling his big brother of everything he'd missed out on. Sasuke had grown into everything Itachi wanted for him, he was strong and handsome and had people he wanted to protect. Itachi felt more at peace than he had in a while as he was just able to listen to his precious Sasuke talk. He'd only left this morning when Itachi requested it, wanting to say his farewells to everyone alone. Sasuke protested but finally gave in, promising to be the last one Itachi would see before going under. The Uchiha was most surprised when Deidara came to visit because he knew as well as ay other who had met the blonde that he despised Itachi's mere presence.

"Uchiha un." Deidara scowled at the sickly form of Itachi, his skin was pale and dark hair was limp and lifeless. The blonde couldn't believe this was the person he was defeated by, it was just unbelievable that this sick almost dead man was one who even evoked the slightest bit of awe from the bomber. He scowled in aggressive annoyance.

"Hello Deidara-san." Itachi hid his surprise at the visit with an air of his usual blank and intimidating stare, though it was lessened by the sick form and raspy words.

"Don't die in there yeah? I want to be the one to kill you and show you true art so you better not die hmm." No way did Deidara want Itachi to die like this, even for such a bastard, he believed Itachi deserved a grand death by bombing, to be made into his art in the most fleeting yet beautiful sight, not some sick corpse that was dying for years. He wanted to fight Itachi one last time and not when the Uchiha was weak, he'd been training for this moment and didn't want it to go for naught so Deidara wanted the Uchiha to live. Not only that, he didn't need to see Hinata cry again for being unable to save somebody she cared about, he'd seen enough of it last night.

"Hn, Thank you for your concern Deidara-san, I will do my best to survive. I have many people hoping for me to live." Itachi thought of

"It's not concern un." He snapped back at what Itachi passed as humorous. "I just want to be the one to kill you and it's not as artistic if you're already weak un." Deidara spoke haughtily like it was completely impossible that he would even care for the Uchiha in the slightest.

"Aa, either way, I appreciate your visit and kind words." Deidara was done, he said what he needed to be said and opened the door, slamming it slightly on his way out missing the amused smirk on Itachi's face. Kisame came in after and the shark man reminisced about the fun they had as partners as well as finally telling Itachi how much he respected the younger shinobi. Kisame and Itachi were both loyal to a fault and because of that, they became more than just forced teammates and considered each other close friends. Kisame considered himself a realist of sorts and though he believed in Hinata, he did not have his hopes up for Itachi's survival so he indulged his friend in everything he could before he had to leave. They were an unlikely pair, one bloodthirsty and wild while the other was a calm pacifist and yet, they were the best of friends as well as a duo that was terrifyingly powerful.

Jūgo gave his good luck as well, telling Itachi he needed him to live and continue as his cage but that if he died, he would accept Sasuke as his replacement. He also spent a bit of time thanking Itachi for rescuing him and becoming his friend as well as a person to look up to. A few of the other Akatauki members gave their goodbyes, keeping it short and sweet, they all had a grudging respect for Itachi and most believed it would be a shame to see such a talented person die by something as stupid as an illness. There were few Konohagakure ninja that knew Itachi was back so he wasn't expecting visitors from them. But when he was resting after his goodbye with Kisame, the door cracked open and a small head of brown hair popped in. Solely by the resemblance to her mother and father, Itachi was able to deduce that it was a much older Hanabi, much bigger than the small toddler he remembered. She stood in the doorway, conflicted of her actions, her hands were pressed together and she had a shy blush on her cheeks, Itachi almost cooed, it was adorable, the same cuteness that Sasuke had as a kid.

"Hello Hanabi-san, you have grown since I last saw you. Please, you are welcome to come in." He kept his tone softer, she was a gentle and loving girl even if she was hardened by the Hyuga clan's strict ways. He felt a sense of warmth knowing that the girl was willing to come visit him even if she could barely remember who he was. The Uchiha really was a sucker for children.

"O-Oh ok, thank you Itachi-san." She scurried silently over to the side of his bed and he could get a clearer look at the girl. She was stone faced but her eyes were sad. Finally, she mustered up her courage and took a deep breath. Hanabi barely remembered Itachi sometimes taking care of her as a child, but by the stories Hinata told, he was a very nice person and it made Hanabi sad to see him so sick. Softly, she cupped his larger hands in hers and made sure to stare him right in the eyes. "P-Please get better Itachi-san, Nee-chan will be very sad if you die and so you h-have to fight. You have to be strong and p-push through to stay alive. For Nee-chan and Sasu-kun and all the other people who love you. O-ok Itachi-san?" Her eyes were burning with flames of passion, Hanabi wanted Itachi to live, she wanted to give him a reason to fight even if his survival seemed so bleak. Hanabi gave Itachi the most encouraging smile she could, pushing all of her will for him to live in that look. The sickly Uchiha found himself enraptured with the sweet little kid and warmth bloomed in his chest, this little girl, a baby that he cradled in his arms was so sweet. He smiled softly at Hanabi and gave her a nod.

"I will do my best to push through Hanabi-san." She could see a bit more light in his eyes, just a glimpse of determination and that was enough, Hanabi thoroughly believed Itachi would push through. She stood swiftly and with a practiced straight face, she bowed at her hips before scurrying out of the room. Itachi had a few minutes to himself in between visitors and he used that to gather his bearings. He had spent so much of the last few years accepting the fact that he was going to die, that he needed to die and now that there was a chance to live, Itachi was struggling to find the will to survive. Having people like Hanabi, Sasuke, and Jūgo come in to fight for him to survive, it was something that helped him, it gave him a reason and desire to want to live. Not for his sake but for theirs.

For Sasuke because Itachi felt as though he had to keep earning his forgiveness. For Hinata because he did not want all of her sacrifice in saving him to go to waste. For Shisui because he was his best friend and knows the guilt of Itachi dying would crush the energetic Uchiha who loved Itachi and would blame his death on himself; he's already blamed himself for Itachi's joining the Akatsuki. For Jūgo, the younger boy didn't deserve the harsh life he was given and if Itachi could lessen that pain, he wanted to. For Kisame, the shark man was loyal to a fault and Itachi did not want to die on Kisame leaving him with nothing and no faith in partners once again, he told Kisame he would live and did not want to leave the shark with a lie.

Naruto also stopped by for a quick visit once he was informed of the situation. The blonde had only met Itachi on a few occasions but Itachi was always kind to him, and knowing that Itachi was his best friends brother and the only immediate family Sasuke had left. Naruto wanted to beg Itachi to fight, telling him to fight for Sasuke because even if Sasuke is a Teme, he needs Itachi in his life and that Naruto would give anything to see one of his family members again so Itachi better not give up that chance. For Itachi, Naruto really had a way with words, the blonde was kind of dense but his heart was more pure and Naruto believed in everything Itachi wanted for the world, he wanted to follow the Uzumaki's orders. He wanted to live for his family. He couldn't be selfish and die, he had to keep living.

The Uchiha's chest throbbed and he shut his eyes, heaving out a wet and bloody cough. It took all of his energy to not pass out from the strain and with a bit of effort, he wiped all the traces of his illness from his face. He felt so frustratingly weak, every movement was taxing and he had to force himself to not let anybody else see how hard this is on him. His eyes were barely working and his body was failing him, it was a payment for his sins. The door opened once more and he strained to see who was coming in, seeing the mop of dark curly hair he was able to determine it was Shisui.

"Hey 'Tachi-chan how're you feeling? Actually, scratch that, I already know." He laughed boisterously, the sound that annoyed Itachi as a kid was now comforting.

"Hello Shisui…Kun." Shisui grinned wider, Itachi was always so headstrong and proper as a kid he refused to call Shisui anything other than Shisui-san even when they were friends so to hear the new honorific, Shisui knew he and Itachi had reached a new level of friendship…they were finally accepting that they were family.

Shisui kept a smile on his face all the time, it started as a mask to keep his clan off his back. If they saw him as a fool that was strong, he wouldn't be considered prodigious, he'd just be strong and a tool, kept out of the clan politics. Then it shifted, he learned how if he kept a smile on he'd be able to help ease the suffering and worries of those around him. It was his mask, it helped others and kept himself from breaking under the harshest of times. Shisui loved people and no matter what it did to him, he would help them. Itachi was one of those at the very top of his list so seeing his best friend so sickly was hard, but like always his smile was unwavering.

Shisui was a very touchy person, he liked people to respond to him, he liked to be able to feel the warmth of a persons skin against his. It all reminded him that somebody was alive, that he was living and not just existing. When he first felt the life flow out of somebody, the first time he touched a comrade and their skin was cold and unresponsive he began to crave that confirmation that those he cared about were living. Shisui struggled with himself sometimes but he couldn't let that show, he loved others too much to spend time dwelling on his own inner turmoil. So, being the eldest Uchiha and best friend to Itachi, he felt like at the least he owed Itachi was to give the younger a reason to live. In the blink of an eye, Shisui was at Itachi's bedside and his smile shifted into one of guilt.

"Tachi-chan, before you go in. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I was supposed to be the one to stop the coup but I failed and pushed the task into your and Danzo's hands. I failed to stop Danzo and was comatose so the burden of killing your family…our family was put onto you when it should have been my burden to bare. You had to join a league of killers and leave Sasu-chan because I was weak and cowardly. You are sick and dying and it should have been me to take on all the hardships you did, I'm older and it should have been me. You still have so much life to live Tachi-can so no matter how guilty you feel, you can't give up yet. Do it for me, for Sasu-chan, for Imouto. Live and keep the Uchiha name strong, you are home now and it's my turn to take care of everything but I can't do that if you die." Shisui's eyes glowed with passion and his smile was radiating with a gloomy determination. He gave Itachi's hair a soft tug and flicked his head like he'd always done. "So now I promise, I promise to take the burdens of the clan and the horrors of life onto my shoulders so you can just live and be 'Tachi, a cool best friend, an awesome older brother, and a pacifist down to his very core."

Shisui pounded his fist against his chest, right over his heart, as a proof of his promise. Itachi tried not to jolt in shock and confusion at the words from his goofy friend. He didn't know Shisui felt so burdened by what he assumed as failure, Itachi always looked up to Shisui for being himself, for his speed, and now he can look up to Shisui for truly being a good person through and through.

"None of this was your fault Shisui-kun, Danzo manipulated everything, everyone behind your back. He did things behind my back as well, I was the one to fail to see through the deception and lies. I was the future leader so if anybody was to end the Uchiha clan, it was me. You kept faith in me even after I killed everyone, you waited for my return with open arms, you kept Sasuke-kun safe and gave him the love I could not. I cannot place any blame on you for that, you did everything I wanted to and now you are giving me everything I want so do not hold the guilt of what you did not do and instead look at what you have done for me, for the village and be proud." Itachi was completely sincere with his words, he believed the best in Shisui and wanted the man to see himself as Itachi sees him. Shisui blinked, then tried to pout childishly, a small true smile playing at his lips.

"Dang, even when I'm trying to be all cool you still have to outdo me 'Tachi-chan." Shisui pouted and flicked Itachi on the nose, making the skin sting slightly. Itachi scrunched his nose but did nothing else. He let his weak body relax more into his pillows before giving the faintest of smiles towards his best friend.

"Not this time Shisui-kun, your words were very inspirational." Itachi poked Shisui in his forehead and got another smile out of the man.

"You finally admit it after 20 years!" Shisui stood up and after a bit of fretting over Itachi's condition, looking over the room and his condition like a mother hen, he gave a short wave. "Bye 'tachi-chan, I'm on your guard duty later and you better not die on my watch!" He spoke jovially like he hadn't a care in the world, but Shisui also meant every word and cared extremely for those he loved. Although he was worried about Itachi's sick condition-he never imagined seeing the prodigy look so frail-he was satisfied with how safe the room seemed and decided Itachi would be ok for the time being.

"Same to you Shisui-kun, please stay safe and keep Sasuke-kun safe as well." Itachi was sincere, he did not want Shisui or Sasuke being injured on his accord, and with the threat of Danzo still out there, who knew what would happen if the war hawk knew Itachi had returned.

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?" On that, the eldest remaining Uchiha flickered from the room at a speed nobody could hope to match, making his way to the meeting point for the mission briefing. Itachi let out a breath, his mind wandering to who hasn't visited him yet that he was expecting…Hinata but he believed she would be last since she was the one to do his surgery. He also briefly wondered if Kakashi would come but knowing the ex-ANBU, Kakashi did not do well with emotional situations and would avoid this like the plague. Tsunade had come earlier to hook him up to an IV and gave him a brief summary of his surgery, though he felt as though something big was being left out.

As if on cue, the door opened and a familiar navy haired heiress entered the room. Her presence was so familiar to him now. He could tell it was her without even looking. Hinata looked over Itachi, her face frowning as she noticed that even over a day his condition had drastically worsened. She could see the sunken look of his eyes and how they could never fully focus on something because his vision would fade in and out so often, she saw the graying of his normally pale yet healthy looking skin. His hair was limp and his lips were pale and dry and it hurt to see someone she looked up to so much, strived to be as strong as, being so…weak.

"Hey 'tachi, almost ready?" Hinata kept her voice steady and let none of her nerves out. She felt like she had to be calm and perfect to not let her nerves make Itachi nervous.

"Yes, I believe so." Itachi made just enough room to give her access and taking the hint, Hinata slid into the bed next to him, her hands gripping his tightly. She was trembling just slightly, he could feel how her pulse was just a bit faster than normal and he knew she was worried about the procedure. His life was in her hands and she was scared of messing up. He ran his thump over the inside of her palm before bringing her hand up to his lips and pressing a soft kiss to the base of her inner wrist. "Breathe, calm down Hinata-hime." He coaxed quietly in his monotone way of speech, there was only the slightest strain to talking but he covered it well.

"I'm _trying_ but what if I fuck up, what if I miss something, what if it doesn't work, what if you…" _Die. T_he last bit was unspoken but they both knew what she was going to say. She opened her mouth to ramble on more but he cut her off kindly. He noticed how that was a tendency she had when she was nervous. It was cute, he found it endearing except when she would blurt out things she needed to keep secret and it got her into trouble.

"If I die, it is because it is my time to go. It will not be your fault. I know you will have done everything you could to keep me alive and that is more than I can ask." He sighed heavily feeling guilty with all the grief and worry he has caused to those around him. HE continued rubbing ssoft circles into Hinata's palms hoping the action will help calm her mind and give her a sense of peace. It was times like this that he realized how much she had grown from the little girl who ran away from people being too touchy feely with her because it was 'too hot outside to have any type of non-spar contact.'

"Don't-don't talk like you are saying goodbye dammit." Hinata mumbled in annoyance, pressing her forehead into his shoulder softly. He rested his chin atop her head and continued talking, she could the rumble of his chest and it was soothing to her nerves.

"I would not like to believe I am capable of dying yet, I have too many people who will come after me in the beyond for me to go peacefully. I will fight my hardest to stay alive Hinata-hime, I promise this for you, for Sasuke, for Shisui, and for all the rest who came today to give me a reason for living." Hinata looked up and Itachi could almost feel the smile that played on her soft petal lips. She was nervous but what Itachi said was exactly what Hinata needed to hear in order to help ease the apprehension she was feeling. Whoever had talked to Itachi before her finally got it through his thick skull that he didn't need to die yet and knowing that gave her more confidence in her skills to keep him alive.

"Damn straight, no way are you dying yet." She grinned up at him and Itachi felt a sense of pain stir deep within him. He wanted to stay alive but he still doubted he could keep going. To hide the frown threatening his face, he pressed their foreheads together tightly, letting the emotion he was trained to suppress just flow between them. Nothing was said for a minute as they stayed just together and present. For Itachi this was a possibly a final goodbye but for Hinata this was just a way of him showing his confidence in her and a see you later. That all changed and Hinata realized what Itachi was trying to convey the instant he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

Itachi did everything with a calm, collected intensity and that was proved even as he tired to coax her mouth into molding with his. Hinata was as stiff as a board, her eyes wide open in shock while Itachi's were closed and his body was holding onto her. He softly pressed her body into his more, his hands pressing against her waist to feel her warmth and soft curves. It felt so right, Itachi had only kissed her once before but yet again he took her off guard. Slowly Itachi could feel her relax when one of his hands stoked her soft locks and the other held her against him. Hinata's hand was still pressed against his chest but instead of pushing away, her dainty and scarred fingers curled around the fabric, clenching it tightly in her grip. He gently prodded his tongue through her parted lips, tasting her sweet essence and Hinata would have enjoyed it if it weren't for the faint coppery taste of blood. That finally broke her out of her shock and Hinata pulled away from his lips. When she pulled away, she was crying, her cheeks were flushed, her lips tingled, and her heart was pounding. Hinata was dizzy and Itachi felt like he was floating or drowning, he couldn't decide. His knuckle softly brushed the tears from her cheek, confused on why she was shedding tears.

"You can't-fuck 'tachi- you can't do that. Last time you-we yanno… _kissed…_ you left. You planned on leaving for good. _You can't do that if it means goodbye._" Hinata choked out the words almost in a growing hysterical whisper. She had flashbacks to years ago when he had kissed her then left with Obito never planning on returning. That was a goodbye kiss and she refused to let him give her another one for goodbye, that made it all too real that there was a huge possibility of him not making it out alive. He pressed a kiss to her temple and poked her in the forehead weakly.

"I don't plan on dying here today but sometimes we can't get what we want and the universe has something else planned. I am sorry it seems like I'm saying goodbye but sometimes we have to be realistic. But like you, I will fight to live until my last breath whether that is today or years from now."

"This is not goodbye, I…I won't let you die." Hinata's eyes were dry and the pale lavender orbs were glowing with a determined glint, she was _not_ going to let Itachi die, not if she could do anything about it.

"If anyone can do it, it would be you." He had no ounce of doubt in the blandly spoken statement, Hinata managed to do things that should be impossible. Though, Itachi couldn't say he hasn't done the same.

"Naru is the one who pulls off miracles." That was also true, Naruto had some kind of magic that just gave him the most unbelievable luck and match that with his uncanny ability to change a person's mind with just talking. But Itachi believed Hinata had the same skills, she just went about it in a different way.

"You're a miracle all on your own, you are the only one I know that can defy all rules and somehow get it to work in your favor." Her mind drifted to Orochimaru but shook the thought away, he believed in her. She had so many people who believed she could do this and that's what she was going to do. Her eyes briefly flickered to the clock and she shot up, she was super late.

"I have to go…." She threw her arms around Itachi, hugging his sickly body tightly to her. In a brief lapse in judgement she pressed another fleeting kiss on his lips and rushed out mumbling about how it was one to nix the last one so it wasn't goodbye anymore. His face was blank but his eyes were dancing with mirth. He was still feeling her lips on his before he rested back against the bed, feeling all strength leave him as another round of coughs racked through his body. His eyes were barely open and he was only awake by sheer willpower. He felt a flood of relief that he got to see those closest to him one more time before going under.

(In Tsunade's office)

Hinata barreled into the office and all eyes looked to the newcomer, Sasori letting out a huff of annoyance at her tardiness. Shisui felt like she even if Hinata had just returned he needed to limit her time around Kakashi so that she didn't pick up his infuriating habit of being late.

"Nice of you to join us Hinata-chan." Tsunade spoke up, glaring down at her pupil. The aforementioned Hyuga flinched. Tsunade was scary. Hinata glanced around the room, it was full of those she had requested. Ino was in the corner standing next to Shisui and Shizune was standing beside Tsunade. Sasuke was also there, being dwarfed by Kisame. Genma, Aoba and two masked ANBU were present as well. Jiraiya was in the windowsill but Hinata made sure to not keep eye contact with the Sanin. Things were still a bit tense after the interrogation and though she had forgiven him and Tsunade, the idea that they trusted her so little still stung and she was slightly worried he would see her as a threat and execute her. Knowing he was a good guy in the Anime was different in real life, she knew he was a good person…same for Tsunade but they also had a job that came before Hinata and that was something that made the girl wary sometimes. Though they knew the truth, she still felt like they didn't always trust her even if Jiraiya and Tsunade thought differently.

"Sorry about being late I had…things…to attend to." Everyone noticed how her cheeks flushed briefly but nobody was in the mood to mention it…yet.

"I'm sure you did brat, now shut up and lets get this briefing over with." Sasori snapped and at the tone Shisui shot him a glare and Sasuke glowered at the redhead. They didn't know who the haughty redhead was but both disliked the way he talked to Hinata. The female was not mad though, she found it highly amusing.

"Who is this guy Imouto? We didn't meet him earlier and I know he is not a from here."

"_That's_ Sasori." Her lips curled into a smirk, fully amused at how confused Shisui and the others were at the unknown ninja who didn't look any older than Hinata herself.

"Wha-wait you're telling me the creepy puppet dude actually looks like…" Shisui gestured up and down at Sasori to emphasize his point. "That?" He couldn't imagine the gravelly voiced creeper actually looked this…innocent?

"As much as I enjoy this pointless conversation, I was not allowed to wear the Hiruko shell thanks to Hokage-dono and it would be a hinderance in dealing with Itachi-san." Sasori spoke dispassionately, his blank eyes staring at Shisui making the Uchiha on edge. Hearing such wording come from such a sweet looking body was disconcerting for all of the Konoha ninja in the office…except Ino who gave Hinata a not-so-subtle wink at how attractive she found Sasori. Tsunade cleared her throat once and garnered the attention of everyone in the room, her temper was not one to play with and it was being pushed with the focus being so warped from the mission at hand.

"You all have been chosen by either Hinata-chan or I for your specific skill set towards this mission. Each of you know more or less that Itachi Uchiha has returned to the village and is now in dire need of a procedure that is sure to take hours if not days. What you do not know is that I have informed Danzo Shimura of this as well. As of last night, his Root Division was disbanded and he did not take it well. This mission is not just a medical job anymore, it is now an A-rank protection mission as well as an A-rank capture mission. I have on good authority to believe Danzo will attempt to assassinate both Itachi and I to prevent his secrets from surfacing as well as keep his control over root so I purposely gave him information to catch him in the act, this will make it so that there will be indisputable evidence to get the right to his execution once and for all." Hinata's eyes bulged out of her head as she glanced between Sasuke and Tsunade. The former didn't look shocked in the slightest so she guessed he was part of the planning. This made her mission in saving Itachi a whole hell of a lot harder and Hinata couldn't help but feel like all hell was going to break loose. She wished she'd been told sooner than now. She briefly wondered if this was how she made everyone else feel when she did plans and only informed them last minute…yeah she'd have to watch that from now on.

"Hinata-chan, Shizune-chan, Ino-chan, Sasori-san and I will all be unable to fight as we are those tasked with healing Itachi. Sasuke-san will also be unable to fight as he is a crucial part of the procedure. Jiraiya-kun will be both a last resort defense and will be aiding in creating the medical seals for the procedure. Kisame-san, Gama-san, Oro-san, and Aoba-san you four are the outside defense, you will be stationed outside the building and prevent any and all root members you come across from entering the building. You are our frontline of defense in keeping Itachi and I alive. If you take a member out, use a sealing scroll, we will need their bodies for evidence. Shisui-kun and Genma-san, you are both going to be stationed right outside our room as the last line of defense. If you encounter Danzo, do not engage, though I don't expect that old fucker to get his hands dirty… And if you can, keep at least one root member alive for Ibiki-san and Inoichi-san to get their hands on." Everyone nodded in acceptance at their roles, Hinata agreed that the formation was solid. Kisame was a frontline fighter and would do well in his position and Shisui was quick and efficient making him a good defense for any who managed to get through the front line of defense. "Dismissed, your mission starts now." Those not going to be in the room with Itachi flickered out of the room quickly going to gather their tools before going to the smaller hospital where Itachi's surgery would take place.

"Don't worry Imouto, if anyone tries to get close to any of you I'll shove 'em out a window." Shisui gave a comforting smile, the words were a joke but it gave Hinata a sense of relief knowing he would be there to protect them all. Even without his Sharingan, Shisui was considered the fastest ninja in Konohagakure and he had the skills to boot.

"Hn. I wouldn't put it past you." Sasuke responded dryly. Shisui gave him a wink and a salute before flickering out of the room as well.

"Hinata-chan, I name you leader of this procedure, you direct everyone as needed." Tsunade spoke calmly, Hinata gripped a fist and nodded. She had everything planned out to the T…as long as nobody attacked them in surgery that is.

"Sasori will be aiding me in the blood transfusion aspect, he is the one who helped me come up with this idea and I trust him the most with helping me. Tsunade-sama you will be doing the transplant between Sasuke and Itachi, if I'm right, the Eternal Mangekyo comes from switching the eyes of your brother or clan mate so if Itachi and Sasuke were to switch, they would both gain the Eternal so the damage to both Itachi and Sasuke's eyes and chakra system would be reversed on that front." Sasuke was impressed with her insight, that did seem like a loophole, one that was so crazy it seemed like it would actually work. Shisui had been completely awe struck by the realization and he laughed heartily after learning of the almost stupidly simple Hinata and to fix…better…Itachi and Sasuke's eye problem.

"Ino, you are going to be in charge of monitoring the blood of Sasuke, you have to make sure he doesn't lose it too slow or too fast. You will also give him plasma pills every time he loses more than a pint." Hinata tossed a bottle of plasma pills made for Sasuke's specific blood type at the blonde.

"Got it. I won't let you down." Ino was blazing with a determination she didn't have as an academy student. No longer solely focused on boys she was a talented kunoichi, an extremely successful apprentice in T&I, and her medical skills were top notch, it helped that she was a highly chakra sensitive person.

"Shizune you will monitor their vitals as well as making sure that no toxins can enter Sasuke's blood as it is transferred into Itachi."

"Yes Hinata-hime." Shizune nodded and left right after to go prepare the supplies they would need. Sasori was mildly impressed, Hinata gave directions that were simple and could not be misunderstood. She was quick and efficient at giving them as well. It was less of a wonder to him on why she was a Jonin so young after seeing this. Her skills didn't just carry her, she had the makings of a good captain or head doctor.

"Jiraiya-sama, you will be applying seals to the room to detoxify and prevent even the slightest not sterile thing to enter the threshold. You will also need to apply seals to both Sasuke and Itachi to completely stop their chakra flow in a non-fatal manner. Those cannot be broken not even in the slightest…no matter what. If they are, the surgery will be a failure." She was dead serious, Itachi's chakra system was weak and so connected with his failing organs that if they could connect it was a possibility the disease would spread to his chakra as soon as it was being tampered with in his blood. So if the flow of chakra was stopped, it could not spread anywhere.

"You got it kid." He wanted to make a comment…something mildly inappropriate about her bosom but decided against it. Today was not the day and he could see the tense way Hinata was around him. It was obvious she respected him from the start but she now also feared him. But he hoped he could patch that up with helping her with Itachi. Naruto wouldn't rest if he knew Hinata was afraid of Jiraiya and the Sanin did not want to deal with the blonde trying to fix the situation himself.

"Sasuke…you know what you are doing already." He nodded, it was in the letter she gave him and Shisui.

"Hn." He was amazed, Hinata was normally so…wild. Even in the most tense situations she seemed to just spew out shit but now she truly looked like a commander. She had complete control and directed everyone with confidence and made it so that nobody dared to talk back…it was pretty damn amazing. He hoped with every fiber of his being that this would work out, he wanted to save his brother and if giving up his eyes and some blood was the way to do it, Sasuke was completely in. It was an added bonus they were finally gathering the nail in the coffin for the bastard Danzo. He couldn't wait to plunge his blade right into Danzo's chest, not before ripping his arm off to gain the eyes back of his fallen family.

"All right…lets do this shit." They left the room and some branched off to go to the awaiting hospital room while others went to gather the patient on his deathbed. Out somewhere else there were many masked ninja being given their mission by an old war hawk. It was going to be a bloodbath one way or another and it was all up to fate on which side was going to win out over the other. There was an intense feeling in the air all around Konoha and it was weighing the most on Hinata.

(First person)

Everyone who was apart of the surgery, except Sasuke, was in the room Itachi was going to have his transfusion in. Sasuke was not allowed in the room until Itachi was under anesthesia because there is no way Itachi would accept taking Sasuke's blood or his eyes, so he is still relatively in the dark on what is happening. Itachi lay in the center of the room, sanitization and healing medical seals were surrounding him. I was kneeling beside him, his hand gripped tightly in mine. His eyes were more gray than ever and his breathing was coming out if puffs, it was now or never.

"So Shizune-san is going to give you a shot that will knock you out and then right after Jiraiya-sama will seal off your chakra flow. Then Sasori and I will start by slitting through your ulnar artery and let your blood flow out to have the disease extracted before the transfusion." Itachi squeezed my hand as I went over everything I could to ease his mind, more so easing my mind as I went through everything for what was probably the thousandth time this week. Shizune directed the needle right into his bicep, quickly forcing the light blue drug into his system.

"Relax Hinata-hime, everything will be ok." Itachi spoke softly, his fingers still delicately tracing over my palm. He had that damned smile on his face, he was at death's door and still smiled just to make everyone else at ease. His eyes closed, he couldn't keep them open any longer. His hand squeezed mine one more time before it went limp.

"He's out, his heart is weak but it is steady." Shizune informed and I motioned to Ino. She opened the door and escorted Sasuke to his place near Itachi. His dark eyes looked over Itachi in worry, his tense body only relaxing slightly when he saw his chest rise and fall.

"Ready duckbutt?" I had Sasuke lay down flat and his eyes met with mine, they were filled with worry but they also held confidence, he believed I could do it too. The rest of his face was deceivingly blank until his lips barely shifted into a half smirk.

"Hn. Lets just get this over with." He looked at the needle and I could see his muscles flex and tense as Shizune gave him the shot.

"Pussy." **(A/N: I really hate this word for some reason but it fit so well I had to do it) **I muttered low enough that only he could hear, his face twisted slightly with annoyance at how I noticed his discomfort with needles, that was definitely new and something he'll never live down.

"Freak." He slurred out, fighting the urge to succumb to sleep. I smiled down at him before flicking him in the head and he finally went limp, the tense muscles in his face relaxing to the point he looked peaceful. His hair splayed out behind him, the spiky-ness of the back of his hair was flattened by the ground. I brushed his bangs out of his face and took a deep breath, calming my mind to do this properly. As Jiraiya painted Itachi and Sasuke with their chakra suppressant seals, I washed my hands and slid on latex gloves. My hair was pulled back into a french braid to keep everything out of my face and work area and I was dressed in basic medical scrubs.

"Jiraiya-sama, please activate the seals." With a burst of chakra flow into the seals around the room, the white light was replaced with a blue glow from each seal activating and purifying the room continuously. Jiraiya has to keep adding chakra to the seals so they can't shut down. I could immediately feel the difference, the air was slightly colder and each breath was like breathing in for the first time. "Sasori, begin your the bloodletting, only do his right arm. I'll start extracting Sasuke's blood. Ino be ready with a plasma pill and don't miss his vitals even for a second. Tsunade-sama, as soon as Sasori and I officially start removing Itachi's toxins, do the transplant."

Everyone got into position, I carefully I put myself in the space between Itachi and Sasuke as Sasori made his first incision with his chakra scalpel. Blood slowly began to pour out of the wound, one of the seals surrounding him was to slow the flow of blood so Itachi wouldn't bleed out too quickly. I activated my Byakugan and stuck the needle in Sasuke's right arm, hitting the vein on the first try. The other end of the needle went into Itachi's left arm but I kept the flow switched off, if I let Sasuke's blood into Itachi's system now it would become infected. I looked over at Sasori's incision, the cut was long but shallow and just barely cut open the artery, it was perfectly done. Tsunade began her extraction of the eyes but I was too focused on my task to pay attention.

"Ino when I tell you, switch the flow to on."

"Got it." I placed a hand on the center of Itachi's chest and forced my chakra into his bloodstream. It was difficult, his body itself was fighting my chakra invading his system and even worse was the virus, it was attacking my chakra to try and force me out so it could continue living it was fighting me so hard I lost concentration and I was forced out with a burst and my hand burned from the attack.

"Brat, relax, breathe, get out of your head. Stop being idiotic, you're chakra is stronger than the virus, if you want Itachi to live you have to fight it. We've been over this." Sasori's cold voice broke me out of my panic, he was right. I took another breath and relaxed, focusing my vision solely onto the veins running through his body. Once again I let my chakra forcefully push it's way into Itachi's bloodstream and fought against the cells trying to destroy my chakra. I had to weave my chakra into the tiniest of net's to capture the virus, my hands were shaking and it hurt to breathe but I focused, netting the fibers of my chakra in his veins, making sure as I forced it through his bloodstream, the infected cells were getting caught and forced through his veins out through the bleeding artery. Sasori used his chakra as a block between each time I forced more of the virus out in the open, doing that prevented the infection to spread back through his open wound. He also kept his chakra flowing to Itachi's organs to keep them from shutting down while they had no blood flowing to them.

I started at his left hand and worked my way from there, clearing just the veins and arteries in his hand took over 15 minutes. It was like a tug of war, every time I would pull, the toxins would pull against me, trying to stay in his body. Once his hand was completely clear, the harder part came. My body was shaking, my eyes burned from focusing the Byakugan on something so small for so long.

"Hinata, he needs the blood now, block his blood flow with one hand, nothing can be allowed through or this will all have been a waste of my time."

"Ok…Shizune-san tell me if Sasuke or Itachi's vitals fluctuate too much."

"I will, everything is ok now, Itachi's heart rate is slightly slower but nothing to worry about." I nodded and focused on Itachi's hand. I used my free hand to make a barrier, forcing every drop of blood from the area and making a dam, no blood could come through my chakra wall. Once I was sure it was steady I started forcing the net through the rest of his still flowing blood, pushing out the toxins. focusing on doing both at the same time was more difficult than any other healing I'd ever done. it was like looking left and right at the same time, forcing my chakra in each hand to do something different was always a struggle and I could feel it in the way my body felt like it was straining so painfully.

"Ino, start letting Sasuke's blood flow." My voice was tense, strained but Ino nodded and turned the nob. The clear tube was suddenly filled with a deep red, slowly flowing its way into Itachi. Where we were removing Itachi's blood, Sasuke's was going to fill instead. It was not quite a transfusion, more like draining a water balloon of hose water and fulling it up with distilled water, they couldn't mix or the water wouldn't be distilled anymore. Completely draining somebody of their blood would kill them, but since Itahci and Sasuke share such similar blood and we are simultaneously draining Itachi and filling him at the same time, it is the only way to remove the disease from him and keep him alive. Though it is untested and might not actually work. Sasuke's blood slowly filled the veins of Itachi's hand, bringing it back from its graying state. As I worked, the barrier between their blood was slowly moving up his arm, forcing the blood from there so Sasuke's blood could take its place.

"Hinata go slower, Itachi's body had to get used to the blood, his heart rate is spiking." Shizune spoke calm but I almost panicked, right before I lost control of my chakra, I stopped forcing the toxins out and focused my full attention on the block, making sure nothing got through. The blood was like two forces, one a raging ball of fire trying to burn it's way through my chakra and the other a giant wave, slamming against the rocks. I had to make sure one force couldn't overpower the other and break through all while attacking the disease and keeping it from forming or spreading to anywhere else. Ino force fed Sasuke a plasma pill, replenishing some of the blood lost, it was a short term fix, plasma pills cannot be used often because they will be ineffective but using them once for this surgery would have the desired effects. Tsunade was carefully placing Itachi's eyes in Sasuke's sockets, her chakra mending the detached optic nerves so that they would connect to Sasuke's brain function and work properly. Sasori and I was a little over half way done when all hell broke loose.

The door to the room was slammed open and a masked Shinobi was thrown across the room, slamming into the wall and slumping over. I glanced at the entrance for a brief second, the amount of chakra being flared and the massive number of masked ninja fighting against Shisui and Genma was astounding. I didn't have time to focus on them, one slip up would be fatal for Itachi so I had to stay focused, that didn't stop my entire body to go rigid. The only consolation was that Shisui and Genma seemed to be doing ok…I just wondered how they got past someone like Kisame. They came, I feel like Tsunade picked the worst time to tell Danzo, what the fuck was she thinking.

Glass shattered and I flinched, Shisui was shoved out the window with Genma, their bodies crashing into one another. Tsunade finished wrapping around Itachi's eyes and shot up, hitting one of the Root members and sending him crashing through a wall. If Shisui and Genma were forced outside at least we have Tsunade to fight now. One second Jiraiya's chakra was being pumped into the sterilization seals and the next, like some knock off kitty pride a Root member grabbed onto Jiraiya and phased through the floor. His chakra in the seals stopped and I cursed…loudly. This is bad, really bad. The seals keeping things clean and away from invading and harsh environmental factors like unwanted chakra are down, that makes the risk of the transfusion that much more risky.

While Tsunade was stuck fighting, and not being able to break the walls since it was a hospital, other members tried to attack Itachi but with ease, Sasori was able to produce chakra threads from his chest container and stopped them, sending them right back at the attachers without even blinking.

"Hinata focus." Sasori snapped.

For the first time, my 360 degree vision was more of a hinderance than anything else, there was just so much going on around me, too many things to focus on. With a brief flare of chakra, I forced my Byakugan to zone in only on Itachi's body. I didn't like feeling so at a loss, it was horrible to have my senses restricted when there is such a threat looming. Sasori was immensely calm, his chakra didn't waver in the slightest. He didn't even look slightly exhausted for using his chakra continuously for so long. I on the other hand was shaking, using mystic palm usually I only get a bit of fight before their body allows me in but Itachi's is continuously fighting me back making me use a lot more chakra in a healing than I'm used to, combining that with all the other added stress, I was struggling.

"If we can't kill Itachi directly, kill the Hyuga, if she dies he will too." A deep husky voice ordered and almost immediately after there was a searing pain spreading through my right side. I cried out in pain but couldn't do anything else, my chakra wavered for a second but I kept it intact just enough to keep the blood from merging. My eyes watered and my hands shook. There was a Kunai sticking out of my back, just above my kidney and to the right of my spine, any lower and it would have been a lot more problematic, but this spot was just painful as long as I don't start bleeding too much.

Ino put another plasma pill in Sasuke's system before pressing her hands into a series of seals.

"Mind Distruction Jutsu." She cried out and 5 of the Root attacked one another to the death. Sasori's threads stuck to one of the dead bodies, using it as a puppet and having it take the barrage of Kunai aimed at us before sending the zombie to attack, keeping his eyes on Itachi's bleeding artery all the while.

"Sasori keep some of them alive." Tsunade called out, dodging a Tantō swiped at her head and sending the woman flying with a kick to the sternum.

"They are trying to kill us, I will kill anyone who gets in the way of this surgery." He replied with annoyance laced in his monotone voice. Tsunade huffed but relented, she kept some alive for this reason. Jiraiya was gone but she had no doubt he was still alive, Root were strong but most of them couldn't hold a candle to the likes of Shisui, let alone Jiraiya.

"Ino stop the valve." I grit my teeth through the pain as a stray kunai found it's way into my tricep. I couldn't give up now, not for anything. Sasuke's blood flow stopped for a second. I was on the hardest part, the heart. The entire system had to be stopped and drained of every last drop of blood before Sasuke's can go through it, but it had to be quick because having his heart stopped for so long, especially now after receiving such minimal blood flow, will kill him. Plus afterward, I have to get the heart started again and prevent any blood to mix with any of the still tainted pathway of veins. With a powerful shock to Itachi's chest, his heart beat once erratically before stopping.

"His heart is stopped, work quickly." Shizune informed me. My chakra instantly flooded the chambers and I infused my chakra with his blood, forcing the thick liquid to manipulate the same way I would with water. I had my chakra overwhelm the diseased blood and forced it out of the chambers of the heart with one powerful burst, directing it all into his ulnar artery and then blocking off three chambers, letting Sasuke's blood flow into the left atrium to be pumped through the heart and into his body. I shocked his heart, waiting for the confirmation from Shizune.

"Nothing, do it again." I sent another burst of chakra to start his heart and waited.

"Nothing, do it again." Three more and nothing. I glared down at his heart.

"Dammit Itachi, stop being difficult." With as much force as I could muster, I wrapped my chakra around his heart and pumped it manually, the blood circulating but not because of his heart wanting to work.

"Hinata, I…"

"No stop, don't say anything." Sasori was focused on making sure Itachi didn't bleed out while fighting necromancer style but I was only focused on Itachi's lifeless body. I didn't see the fire jutsu's or weapons slashing, I didn't see the bodies going down or the styles I've never seen be used by the masked root. I didn't see the final member be struck down by Tsunade. I didn't see Shisui return, bloodied but alive. Nothing, I could only see Itachi. The only thing I could hear was the flatlining of the monitor, the only time a beat would start was when I forced it to. I was crying but I didn't stop. Even with the blood dripping down my body, I was numb to everything. "Dammit Itachi. Fight. You hear me you idiot. Fight. _Please, Please _don't do this! You can't give up! fuck, fuck, fight Itachi. Just make your stupid heart work. _PLEASE!" _I screamed at him, my voice cracking. Ino was crying, Shizune looked sorrowful, Sasori just stayed still. I slowly let my chakra release the organ and the heart started pumping blood.

I smiled, he did it. Finally, after making sure his heart was good enough, I finished pushing out his toxic blood and Sasuke's filled Itachi's entire system, Sasori sealed up the wound and made sure no blood got back in. I did a once over, there was no disease left. Sasuek's blood was being pumped through his veins and I waited. His body had to accept the blood before anything else. When finally, there was a homeostasis and his body accepted the blood willingly, letting it be his own.

I cried tears of happiness, it worked. Itachi just has to wake up, he will be under supervision but his body seems to be doing fine. His heat pumped on his own but then his body started shaking, blood came out of his mouth, Sasori held him down. It was like the world slowed, my chakra was low, my body hurt, we'd been at this for over 12 hours, and this was just getting worse and worse.

"He's seizing, the overload of healthy blood is making his body freak out, it's not used to this after being sick for so long. He'll die if this continues."

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck." I did the last thing I could think of. I released the seal on my forehead, letting the added chakra flood my system, I pulled the Kunai from my arm and back, the skin stitching itself back together like nothing happened. Black markings covered my skin and before they could stop, I stretched them, pressing my hands to Itachi's shaking body and letting them cover him too, wrapping around his body, intricate designs forcing my chakra into his cells, forcing them to heal and accept the new blood. I coughed, blood dripping down my lip, I could feel my life force amplified yet draining at the same time. Itachi was going to live, fucking hell, there was no way I was going to let the hardheaded asshole die after making it this far. Danzo wasn't going to get his way, Sasuke was going to have a brother, Shisui would have a best friend, I was going to get to spend more time with Itachi, no fucking way. His body stopped seizing, the heart monitor slowed to a steady rhythm and only when I was sure, I stopped the seal, the leftover chakra moving back to store on my forehead.

Everything hurt, my chakra coils were grating against one another, dry. My hands were cold and trembling, my vision was fading in and out and I slumped over, Sasori catching me and letting me lean against his body.

"Brat."

"Hmm" I murmured, letting the darkness overtake me so I could rest and not feel like a truck hit me. As my eyes fluttered closed, my heart soaring at the fact that Itachi made it through the worst part of it, I was hopeful he would push through the rest and make it through rehabilitation.

I woke up exhausted, my head felt like there was a construction sight going on inside my skull, rattling around painfully. My limbs felt like they were heavy, a lot heavier than normal. At least my chakra coils weren't dryer than Suna anymore, it was no longer painful to live. God, chakra exhaustion is like the worst hangover combined with the feeling of dehydration. It was all worth it, even landing myself in this godforsaken place. I was in the hospital, the smell of antiseptic burned my nose unpleasantly.

Hanabi shifted slightly and I moved my arm to help keep her on the bed. She must have come to sleep beside me, I smiled and brushed a hand through her hair. I slid down onto the bed and rested my cheek atop Hanabi's head. She smelled like Jasmine and honeydew, the same as mom. Her arms tightened their hold around me and I laughed lightly. Dad was in a chair beside my bed. His head was lolled to the side, his eyes shut and the deep frown lines on his face were softer than usual.

There was a murmur and a muffled shout and I sat up once more, finally realizing the extra bed in my room. It was occupied by a shirtless blonde, thrashing around in his sleep. One second he was on the bed and the next, he swung a kick and thumped to the floor. One cerulean eye opened barely, looking around in confusion. His fist rubbed the sleep from his eyes and he finally settled on looking at my amused expression. He shot up from the floor, completely uncaring of his lack of clothing, and opened his mouth. I put a finger to my lips, pointing between Hanabi and my dad, he got the message and didn't yell out like he was prepared to. He rushed to the foot of my bed, eyes eager to hear more.

"Hina-chan! I came as soon as Iruka-sensei told me both you and Teme were in the hospital. What the heck happened dattebayo? Neither of you woke up for a full day." He whispered loudly, fluffing his hair as he tried to piece together the limited information he was given by Iruka. I explained everything start to finish, some parts were blank, I remember freaking out when Itachi's heart was failing but I kind of glossed over some of those details. Once I put everything together, I was angry, extremely so and when I was finished explaining to Naruto, he was fuming as well. "How could Grandma Tsunade do that! Is she crazy, she almost got all of you killed." Naruto growled in frustration, struggling to keep his voice low. "Dammit, I'm going to go to talk to her right now!" He was dead serious

"Don't. I'm the one whose going to say something, she put my entire surgery at risk for no reason. Besides, you showing up naked won't help anyone take you serious." He looked down at his bare chest and spluttered, crossing his hands over himself to hide his exposed abs. Naruto shot up from his seat and ran out of the room, before the door could shut, a pale hand gripped the wood and kept it open.

Sasuke slipped into the room silently, he looked terrible. His eyes had deep dark circles under them and his skin was the palest I had ever seen it…losing that much blood even if replenished was taxing on his body for sure. He walked slowly, like any movement would give him a headache. Even as a walking zombie, he didn't look sad or angry so I was hopeful that Itachi was ok. Clad in black sweats and a gray shirt, he drank from a can of tomato juice, the straw never leaving his lips as he sat on Naruto's bed. Everything I was going to say flew out the window as I stared at him in disbelief.

"You know when I told you to drink juice after you woke up…this is not what I meant."

"Hn. It has sugar in it." Sasuke shrugged bored, like my questioning was stupid. Sure having a sugary drink like juice was good but adding sugar to tomato juice is not at all what I meant. His weirdness knows no bounds. Oh my gosh, what even is he. I grimaced as he took another sip, seeming pleased with the flavor.

"That' disgusting. Drinking the equivalent of ketchup is not at all similar to drinking a juice just because 'it has sugar in it'. Go get normal fruit juice dumbass."

"Hn." Whatever, let him heal slower. I paused with bated breath, Sasuke had something to say and I was waiting for him to formulate the best way to word things. "The two ANBU on the mission died, Raido is out of commission, Shisui has a concussion, and Genma has a broken arm."

"Kisame?" I questioned, I had faith he was ok but if somebody like Danzo actually showed up to fight and Kisa didn't back down, the outcome would be catastrophic.

"Hn, he took no damage, the guys a monster." Sasuke was both impressed and weary of Kisame, his eyes shining at the though of the shark man. I took in a breath, other than the soft sound of Hanabi and dad's breathing there was no sound. The air was tense and with a soft whisper I asked the most pressing one.

"And 'tachi?" Sasuke's eyes were distant, I wanted to see the sliver of hope but he'd always been a pessimist.

"He is stable, though he's in a coma and they don't know if he'll wake up. Everything is functioning but he _won't wake up_." He composed himself, dark eyes cold and calculating. "They say its up to him now." His fingers tightened their hold on the cup, his pale skin turning more white from the grip. Sasuke was clearly the most worried, though he hid it, he was distraught at the thought of Itachi not waking up, to come so close yet be so far. Sasuke didn't want to lose his brother again.

"He'll wake up. He said he was going to fight so believe in him." Sasuke barely spared me a glance as he got up, his mind whirling as much as mine was. He was spiraling again, Itachi needed to get up and fix his brother.

As soon as Hanabi left to go to school and father left for work, I jumped out the window of the hospital. If there is one thing Team 7 taught me over all else, it was how to escape a hospital. That and how much time I spent there learning and healing others, I knew all the escape routes. Perfect for when I needed to keep hardheaded ninja in the hospital when they believed they were fine to return to duty. The glee I got when escaping the hospital was almost nonexistent. I was worried and even more than that, I was pissed.

I stormed into Tsunade's office, slamming the door open almost tearing it off it's hinges. She was conversing with a group of Chunin but as soon as she got a look at my face she dismissed them. She crossed her fingers together in front of her and leaned back, watching and waiting.

"What can I help you with Hinata-chan." I stalked forward, my hands gripping onto the back of a chair, splintering it under my touch. Her eyes hardened just slightly, understanding I was mad at her.

"I am grateful for everything you did for me yesterday but if you _ever_ put a patient of mine at risk like that while I am treating them again, those shitty root members will be the least of your worries." Threatening the Hokage and someone I care highly for was stupid but I was mad and I was lashing out at the person who caused me so much problem yesterday. Tsunade met my furious eyes, her were stony yet understanding.

"Do not talk to me like that. I am your Hokage above all else, my word is law and you have no room to question it." Her voice was firm, commanding and any other time I would have backed down from her.

"You put not only Itachi at risk, you put the lives of Ino, Sasori, Sasuke, Sasori, Jiraiya, Shisui, Kisame, yourself, and me at risk all for some stupid idea on getting evidence to catch Danzo. There is enough evidence to put him away already. What the fuck were you thinking!"

"He has more sway than even me over the council on matters like this…we needed absolute proof of his misdoings. The word of Sasuke and Shisui would't be enough. Danza isn't stupid, he would only attack when he felt it would be most beneficial and end in his favor so that is why we picked now, it was the best chance of getting him to strike. As Hokage I do not want to put the lives of my people on the line, but this is not just about you, this was for the misdoings he caused the Uchiha clan as well as the safety of the village. I have to make the hard decisions and sometimes they are not the most favorable but you have no right to question what I have done when everything ended up in our favor. _You_ were the one to want to catch Danzo in the first place so _you _should not be in my office creating such a ruckus." I was ready to fire back at her harsh yelling but she raised a hand, gaining perfect composure once more.

"Before you say anything else, just know this wasn't my plan. Your beloved Sasuke came up with it, I went along with it on his request." I was speechless, Sasuke really was willing to risk so much just to catch Danzo, joining root should have gotten enough to take him down. Actually, no, that is exactly something Sasuke would do. No matter how much he has changed, he is still himself and will go to wild lengths for revenge.

"You still authorized it, you were the final say." Tsunade stood up out of her chair, gripping my shoulder and pulling us so we were eye level, barely any space between us. "Stand down Hinata or I will put you on probation until you are older than Kakashi." She released the tight grip on my shoulder and sat back down, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. She reached under her desk and pulled out a bottle of sake, taking a swig from the bottle. "Just get out. Now." I turned on my heel and left, thinking of so many ways I was going to shove my foot up Sasuke's ass. The first step out of the room, Ino was there smiling brightly. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it, I felt more calm already.

"Itachi is awake. I can't believe it Hinata! You did it, you really did it." I breathed out, feeling like I hadn't really been breathing since the start of yesterday. No way, he was awake. Time to see if everything really worked, hopefully he would have new eyes and after a long recovery, maybe he'd go back to being a shinobi again.

"I couldn't have done it without you." I was grinning, my impending kicking of Sasuke's ass had to wait. I rested my head on her shoulder and we walked to the hospital together.


	26. The fate of one's past

Ino opened the door to Itachi's room, she squeezed my hand then let go, moving to tend to Itachi. He smiled and was going to greet me but my eyes were focused solely on the dark haired idiot sitting beside his brother drinking another damned tomato juice. Without wasting a second more, I grabbed hold of Sasuke's collar and slammed him into the wall. He slumped, not even putting up a fight in his exhausted state, but he was looking at me with pure annoyance.

"You selfish asshole, are you shitting me! You compromised everything for vengeance." I pushed him harder into the wall, snarling in anger and disbelief and utter exasperation. "Oh my god, I'm friends with an idiot, you are such a prick, a selfish, shitty, stupid, asshole. I should fucking break both of your arms right now you asshole. Did you really think it was a good idea to tell motherfucking DANZO SHIMURA your brother was home so he would attack during surgery? I got stabbed, Itachi almost died multiple times, you put so many lives at risk including your own. Do you think things through or are you so childish your vengeance for the sake of your clan would blind you and make you so stupid. Huh, how the hell did you plan on stopping Danzo if he attacked when you were under anesthesia, you'd feel like a fucking idiot if you singlehandedly took out the rest of the Uchiha clan in one fail swoop because you can't control your emotions. You selfish, ignorant, blind, little shit."

I slammed my fist into the wall right beside his face, it stung but it was the only thing keeping me sane enough not to slam my fist right into his stupid face. Itachi looked at the scene, his eyes were uncovered and working better than ever, he didn't question it yet knowing I'd tell him everything soon. His mind was still extremely fuzzy and he barely made out any of what I was shouting at his bother but he knew I was mad and it would be better to stay out of it. Ino on the other hand understood everything and pieced together why I was so pissed with them, I didn't have the chance to be mad before the surgery but now that it's over…it made sense. Hell, Ino was just as pissed and if she didn't think I would take care of it she would end up punching her old flame right in his too straight nose.

"Hn. It was worth it, I would do anything to catch that bastard and give him what he deserves…no matter the cost." There was something dangerous in the way Sasuke spoke, he was back to being an angry and aggressive pre-teen that I hadn't seen in a while. In a second that boy was gone and Sasuke was right in front of me, eyes lidded and heavy.

"You goddamned imbecile, not only did you risk your life, you risked everyone else's were you really that willing to let Itachi die?" Sasuke's dark eyes flashed with anger at my accusation but I pressed on. He was so stupid, did he and Tsunade really think that would be a good idea? They are so unbelievably lucky everything went the way it did, if Jiraiya had gotten pulled away a minute earlier or I got stabbed any closer to my spine, or a stray Kunai managed to hit somebody, it would have been a fail in epic portions. As a medic I promised to protect those I'm saving and not endanger them but that is the exact opposite thing Tsunade and Sasuke planned out together.

"He wouldn't have died." It was lowly spoken but there was a fierce truth behind his words, I was confused, what the hell is going on. Did the entire world lose it's fucking mind over the weekend?

"Oh yeah, what the fuck else would have happened if one thing went wrong." I growled, my hand punching the wall again to not hit him, Sasuke didn't even flinch, his stare unwavering.

"You would still be there to save him." I blinked in surprise and then I was even more pissed with him thinking I'm some kind of immortal or something that can't get hurt.

"It's like talking to a brick wall! You are so damn dense. I could have died as well and if I die guess what idiot, Itachi would have died too!" I'd be less mad about my life being at risk if I was able to fight back, I was worthless to fight and I had to keep not one but two unconscious people alive.

"You wouldn't have died." He spoke so certain, I swear I'm surrounded by idiots.

"Do you not know how stabbing people works?" I hissed, why the hell is he being such a hardheaded idiot.

"Hn. You wouldn't have died…" He trailed off and somebody finished the rest for him, their hand wrapping around my arm to still me from moving.

"I was there to protect you the whole time." My head snapped back to the newest figure to enter the room and glared at the cold, bored eyes looking back. Sasori was oh so pleased with himself at the timing, getting a rise out of me was a fun pastime for him I guess. "I can't have you die before our deal is over so just stop being so hotheaded and calm down." Sasori effortlessly forced me to let go of Sasuke's shirt and the Uchiha just slumped back down, smirking like an asshole. I was so unbelievably thankful for the help Sasori gave me. Without him I would have never been able to do even half of the surgery right, and he protected my life the whole time. I even told him so multiple times before the surgery as well as in my slightly inebriated state, I already had my plans to repay him. However, never did I think Sasori and Sasuke would be in cohorts with something like this, granted we found out right beforehand but now I'm assuming Sasori knew as soon as Sasuke learned his role in the surgery.

"Fuck you both." I snapped at the two but made no abrupt movements so Sasori released me from his hold.

"Hn. What time?" I glared at his prideful expression and my fist shot out, slamming right into the side of his face, throwing him back into the wall, small cracks spidering out from the impact. Sasuke groaned, that amplified his headache from the blood loss and he felt dizzy from the hit that was sure to leave a nasty bruise. Ino snickered, both from Sasuke's cheeky retort used solely for the purpose of pissing me off and me sucker punching him.

"As confusing as this is, please refrain from punching Sasuke-kun in my presence." Sasuke smirked arrogantly, he thought he won, "Take it outside."

"Aniki!" Sasuke's smirk dropped and he looked a Itachi in betrayal, I looked dangerously at him. I get the want to take out Danzo, the bastard deserves death for everything he has caused but I can't get on board with the way Tsunade and Sasuek decided to catch him. The whole point of Sasuke joining ROOT was to take care of the issue of getting evidence on Danzo, if it was going to amount to so little, I don't think we would have put him through that torment of working under the man responsible for the massacre of his clan when he stopped Shisui from solving the problem.

"You're lucky I have things to do and am not going to thoroughly kick your ass for almost making my surgery a failure. Though, I'm not the one you have to worry about, Naru was pretty pissed with Tsunade-sama earlier, I wonder how he's going to feel about his so called best friend putting the lives of his teammates at risk for some half-cocked vengeance." Sasuke got up from his indentation and wrapped an arm around me, I wanted to punch him again but he tightened his hold. Sasori wasn't going to step in this time.

"Hn. I'm sorry, I won't scare you again. Who knew the freak was such a crybaby." I stifled a laugh and finally hugged him back, I was mad, he was reckless, but I forgave him. I guess, I shouldn't have expected anything less, but if he did it again I would murder him…Tsunade too if she agreed to another one of his ridiculous, anger induced ideas. At least, Danzo is in custody and me getting stabbed wasn't for naught.

"Duckbutt, Naru is still going to kick your ass." I mumbled before turning to Itachi. I strolled to his side and gave a quick scan of his insides. Everything seemed to be in order…his body was obviously weak but it was functioning and his chakra pathways were no longer having to fight every moment so they were moving at a calm and peaceful pace through his body. His eyes looked less cloudy and there was an obvious light that hadn't been there, like he was less burdened with his existence. The deep bags under his eyes were there but not as prominent, his skin had a healthy flush, and he no longer seemed to struggle with each breath.

"How are you feeling, be honest? Any concerns, pain, does something feel off, is your eyesight better?" I eased his body forward and rested his head in my lap so I could brush out the knots forming in his sleek hair. He sighed contentedly as my fingers grazed against his scalp.

"Hn. It's hard to process thoughts and words sometimes, other than a headache I feel relatively fine." He reached up to touch at his eyes, confused. "My eyesight, it is perfect. Why?"

"It's normal for your brain to be foggy after a such an intense surgery, as long as it gets better in the next few days it is nothing to worry about. You're on morpheme right now so as long as there is no pressing pain, everything is healing well…as for your eyes…" I looked to Sasuke, he would be the best to explain this situation.

"Hn. I gave them permission to switch my eyes with yours. It was a gamble, possibly one or both of us going blind or both of us gaining the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan." Sasuke let his eyes bleed into red and the pattern changed to one much more intricate than his old Mangekyo pattern. Itachi blinked, taking a bit of time to process everything, his brows furrowed and eyes unblinking as they looked at Sasuke's blazing Sharingan. Once he seemed to process everything, he gave me a knowing look and a soft smile to Sasuke.

"Thank you little brother, truly in am in your debt. But please, next time do not take the chance of harming yourself to do anything for me. I would have gladly given you my eyes without the need for yours in replacement. Just being alive would have been enough." Sasuke was shell shocked, no matter what Itachi was always so kind and humble, though he saw himself as selfish, Itachi was selfless. Itachi sat up a bit, giving me better room to start plaiting his hair. He opened his arms and Sasuke, like a small child, rushed into them. Kneeling on the ground and collapsing into his big brother's arms, his _alive _big brother's arms. Itachi looked over Sasuke's mop of hair to Sasori and gave him a polite nod. "Thank you Sasori-san, I know I would not be here if it weren't for your diligence and calm head during everything." Sasori's eyes narrowed at Itachi, looking over his peaceful expression in an unreadable look.

"Don't be mushy brat, it doesn't suit you." He huffed towards the younger man, he harbored no ill feeling towards Itachi but didn't want his gratitude either. If Itachi were do have died, his body would be Sasori's, that reason was why Sasori believed he didn't deserve any thanks from the rehabilitating Shinobi. The redhead turned and walked out of the room, Ino following behind him, and I stifled a laugh at how put out he looked after being thanked for doing something good for once. Almost right after Sasori left, Shisui and Kisame came into the room. The former was sporting a dark bruise on his eye and had a cotton patch over what was probably freshly mended skin from being cut. Kisame looked fresh as day, no cuts or bruises whatsoever.

When they both saw with their own eyes that Itachi was up and breathing on his own, relief flooded their expressions, Kisame's more guarded and muted than Shisui's but it was obvious his two closest friends were happy he was alive and well.

"Hello Shisui-kun, Kisame-san." Shisui bounded over and took the left over room on Itachi's bed, looking over Itachi for any signs of injury, grinning brightly as he saw nothing.

"Damn Imouto, you're a goddess, truly! 'Tachi you look so much better!" Shisui was going to pull on Itachi's hair but I stopped him before he could mess up the partially finished fishtail braid.

"Yes little Orokamono, you are truly an impressive medic." He turned to Itachi and let his sharp teeth stretch into a feral yet happy grin. "Good to see you look less like shit, I can't say the same for your mini you, he looks like death." A large blue hand idly gestured to Sasuke who gave him a half hearted glare, still too caught up in Itachi rubbing his head to get angry. "Who punched you in the face?" Sasuke briefly looked at me.

"Hn." Kisame snickered at the knowledge. I laughed at Sasuke's expense, he looked terrible and for once I was glad he looked and felt like shit. Shisui whole heartedly agreed with Kisame's statement, telling 'Sasu-chan how he was going to lose his pretty boy standing if he kept looking like that.'

"Are you feelin' better Tachi-chan? We were really worried when you were comatose." Shisui wrapped an arm Itachi and I, his hand reaching just far enough to ruffle Sasuke's hair. His smile now was less forced, the crinkle in his eyes a bit less strained than it was yesterday, he felt the relief of Itachi living possibly more than the rest of us. Shisui was the undeclared parent of the odd little family. Though he wasn't always seen as the most responsible, he was when need be and took everything to heart, so knowing Itachi was alive and he could finally take care of him, that his closest friend was truly ok, it was a major relief.

"Aa, I feel much better." For the first time, it wasn't a lie. Itachi didn't have to pretend he felt fine just for the sake of keeping to himself and feeling like he deserved being sick, he truly felt better in all shapes and forms.

"What does your recovery look like? I don't know if I can handle anybody lesser to be my teammate, though I might have more fun if I'm with someone who lets loose every once in a while." All eyes shifted to me in looking for an answer.

"He may be cleared from disease now but after all the damage to his system, there was only so much that could heal even with using my seal. His heart is still fragile from how many times it failed and his body still has to find a unity to function at the level he was before so I'd say a month and a half give or take if rehabilitation goes well." Kisame let out a low whistle, in shinobi terms, a month of recovery is long especially now that medical ninjutsu can be so freely utilized and if I didn't use the seal to heal him as well, it would have been at least double that.

"Sounds good enough. You really are a lucky bastard to be alive huh." Kisame slid a box out of his pocket and handed it to Itachi. One look inside it was filled with Tri-colored dango…his favorite. "See you later Itachi." Shisui saw the dango and he formed an unspoken bond of friendship with Kisame. Itachi was always making Kisame didn't go over his head with reckless battles but yet Kisame was older and when it came down to it he would protect Itachi. Shisui felt the same and when he realized the shark man was really a good friend for Itachi while he was gone, it solidified his resolve to befriend the untrusting ex-kiri nin.

"Bye Kisame-san. Thank you for the Dango." That was as good as Itachi giving Kisame a giant hug, the gesture was small but for Itachi it was the best thing he could have gotten from Kisame. For somebody so blood thirsty and wild, the dango was so kind and a perfect symbol of their friendship. Kisame cared and was as loyal as they came if you were deserving and Itachi was.

"Bye Kisame-sempai."

"Bye little Orokamono." The door shut and after a bit of time with just the four of us I got up to let them have their time together, I was going to pick Hanabi up from the academy and take her to the new tea house that had opened up.

* * *

"Tachi, stick this leaf to your palm and tell me how it feels." I activated my Byakugan to watch how his body worked when he used his chakra for more than just sustaining his life force. With ease he molded his chakra and the leaf stuck to his palm. There was no strain on his chakra, the only problem was how his heart beat slightly off rhythm when his chakra started moving against the natural flow. That was bad and it happened with just the small manipulation of chakra and if he did something on a larger scale like a fire jutsu, it was worrying. That had to be fixed before he could even think to start training again.

"It feels as easy as it did the first time. Is this necessary, I can do more?" Itachi was a patient person but this was annoying, he felt useless and weak. He wanted to be strong to be there to fight with his brother and Kisame, to protect the village and fight towards the new age of peace he believed would come about once the final members of the Akatsuki were no longer a threat.

"You can't do more, your heart needs more time to strengthen itself before going any further. Just be happy you can even mold chakra as perfectly as you can already, that makes this easier. We have to focus more on your muscle rehabilitation and circulatory system healing than fixing your chakra that was damaged." I poked right at his heart and his stern face relaxed in understanding.

"Hn." I sat Itachi against the tree and let my chakra flow into him, his body fought for a second then let me in with more ease than ever before and I focused on healing the scar tissue on his heart as he constantly moved a leaf around his body with his chakra. If we did this enough, he should be fine to start training with his heart healthy enough to not beat erratically when molding chakra.

_Formal summons for former members of Squad 7 under Jonin Sensei Kakashi Hatake: Hinata Hyuga, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha. Go to the TI building, room 104 at 14:00._

Sasuke Naruto and I were there before Tsunade and none of us knew what the hell the summons was for.

"Hey, Hanabi wants you both to come over for dinner tonight. Kakashi, Kakuzu, Shisui, Ino, Suigetsu, and Itachi are coming too, can you come? She's making your favorites and has been so excited to see everyone again."

"Hn, sure."

"Hell yeah! Hanabi-chan's Ramen is second only to Old Man Ichiraku." I smiled happily, Hanabi is my pride and joy. I love her so much, her heart is so big and loving and she wanted to have my team over, plus it gave her an excuse to invite Kakuzu and make him teach her more. Apparently he has picked her up from school twice now.

"Why are we here Grandma Tsunade?" Tsunade scowled at the unflattering nickname that she just couldn't shake. Naruto was too hardheaded to change his mind once it was made and him using nicknames was no exception to that.

"Hn." None of us really knew the reason for being summoned to the TI building, it was rare we were called here for anything good-like having your mind invaded to see f you're a traitor- and being here now was weird…though I'm guessing it has something to do with Danzo since he's being held in the most high security cell of this god forsaken place.

"Sasuke Uchiha, you were a member of Root for over 2 years and we need you to identify if those we have apprehended are indeed Root members." Sasuke still had a bruise on his face but there were a few more piled on top of it. Naruto was also wearing a nice few cuts and bruises himself, they really did end up 'sparring' yesterday. Even after clearly beating the shit out one another in the most non-hateful way possible, Sasuke didn't seem to hold that anger inside of him like he did yesterday. Something Naruto said to him (something he punched into him with many fists of brass knuckles) made Sasuke calmer, more controlled. It was nice to see him less recklessly angry without hate swirling in him again, being in root under Danzo for so long had made him angry but Naruto worked his magic, paring that with Itachi and Shisui living, and Danzo finally being caught and ready to be tried for his crimes… Sasuke was more in control of himself than ever. He just felt..lighter. Thank god because I don't know how much more of idiotic brooding, angry at the world Sasuke I could take."Hn. Most were always in masks but I have their chakra's memorized well enough." Sasuke and I haven't had any time to talk about Root, both of us being undercover and me being home for less than a full week while also being extremely busy made it impossible to talk. Same with Naruto, we all missed one another and have had no time to truly talk about any of what we've missed with the other. Being here with them, even if we were all older and had different things going on, we were still team 7.

"Good…As for Hinata, I believe we have found the Root member Sai you warned us of. Paper white skin, black hair, and a smile so lifeless it's unnerving." Sasuke raised an inquisitive brow, he seemed to know exactly who we were talking about. Hmm, Sasuke mentioned he had a teammate and the amount of pride Danzo put into Sai, I think I would like to bet all my money on the idea that Sai is Sasuke's un-named partner. If that is actually true, I think I might die laughing at how fate seems to work out.

"And you Naruto, last time you were kept out of the loop you busted into my office like an idiot and lost your temper over something you had no knowledge on… so you're here so you don't have to ask me any more questions and disrupt my job." Naruto didn't even look the least bit sheepish. Sasuke and I were both bemused at the knowledge, I could just envision the blonde wearing his gaudy orange and green civilian clothes he puts on after training and wreaking havoc in her office. He shot a half-hearted glare to Tsunade and Sasuke then shrugged, he knew he was right and if they'd not leave him out of things he'd have no reason to barge in her office and demand information. And if Teme wasn't such a Teme, he'd have no reason to beat the emo out of him.

"Humph, well maybe if you and Sasuke-Teme didn't make such insane decisions without including _me _I wouldn't 'a had to dattebayo." Tsunade sighed deeply and bit her tongue from calling him a brat.

"Ibiki-san will take you to identify those held captive. Start with the black haired one." Ibiki was as tall and scarred as always, at a large 196 centimeters, he was taller than everyone in the room and would even make someone tall like Zabuza look short. The only people even close to his height are Kisame and Kakuzu. His face was straight and even that was enough to intimidate Naruto who paled at the towering man, looking down at him.

"Lets go." Ibiki led us through a maze of hallways until we reached a set of more high security cells. The air was frigid, the silence was eery, and everything felt muffled. The chakra barriers and obvious suppressant seals were scrawled everywhere and right on the foreheads of some of the prisoners we passed by. Ibiki stopped us outside a cell and after a few seals, the door opened and the chakra barrier ceased so we could enter. The person was sitting with his head down, not seeming to be bothered by his predicament. He looked up and I stopped, it really was him. Sai smiled so empty, it didn't look real in the slightest. It was creepy how blank his smile was, it was like a doll.

"Hello Traitor….I see you've brought…friends. Nice to meet you." His voice was soft and light but also monotonous and Sasuke scowled the more Sai talked. I snorted in amusement at the nickname, leave it to Sai to call Sasuke a traitor in both timelines for two completely different reasons.

"Who is this jerk off huh Teme?" Naruto asked, pointing right at the still smiling Sai, who now tilted his head like a puppy. Sasuke scowled at Sai, annoyed with his presence.

"Oh, I have no name. I am but one of the many branches of Root…" Sai looked Naruto up and down, his eyes lingering on his pants before smiling blankly again. "Dickless." Ibiki looked thoroughly amused at Naruto's face reddening in anger. I covered my mouth and stifled a laugh, this was golden.

"I didn't ask you dattebayo! Besides I'm not dickless! Tell him teme!" Naruto snapped haughtily, trying to get Sasuke to confirm he was a male. Sasuke's face tinted pink and he scowled in annoyance at both of them. He swatted Naruto in the head and sent a harsh look to Sai.

"Hn. He was my partner in Root. An emotionless loser who doesn't have any concept of social interaction." Naruto and I both looked at Sasuke in surprise, coming from the most socially awkward of the three of us, him saying something like that was just…wrong."Then he really is your pasty carbon copy! Man, having two socially inept people on one team must be a blast." Naruto nodded sagely, staring between Sasuke and Sai with such intensity, trying to find the resemblance.

"Hmm, he does kinda look like you Teme. Just give him your stupid hair and you could be brothers."

"Hn. Not even close dobe." If Sasuke had any less control over his blank face, he would have looked extremely offended at the claims we made between he and Sai.

"As it stands, the harlot is right. I do believe we have relatively similar facial structures." Sai smiled towards me finally, seeing if I liked the nickname. I was not expecting that to be my nickname and I couldn't help but laugh. It was so horribly hilarious. Of all things I've been called, a hoe was not one of them. Sasuke smirked towards me, finding this as entertaining as I found his nickname.

"Eeh? You bastard! Don't call Hina-chan a harlot, where the hell did you get an idea like that?!" Naruto stomped forward but Ibiki gripped his shoulder, preventing him from attacking the partially defenseless Root member. Sai cocked his head at the reaction from Naruto, looking confused on why he would stick up for me and be more mad about a nickname than I was.

"Oh, was that rude Traitor?" Sai directed his innocent confusion to Sasuke but didn't wait for an answer, instead turning to address me. His eyes brazenly staring at my chest. "I apologize for the misunderstanding, I just assumed that based off a book's description of a Harlot, a women with a chest your size must be one." For somebody who doesn't have any semblance of how actual social interaction, besides the top socially perfect Sasuke, that deduction I guess isn't the worst. If he tried to learn about people by books that mentioned harlots or the like, his estimation was relatively ok…but still so wrong because just gah! That's not how life really works in Shinobi villages, maybe as a civilian. But also, I'm wearing sweats for god sake, nothing sexy about that. Naruto and Sasuke both looked directly at my chest and then looked away. I crossed my hands over my chest, trying to diminish the size. I draw attention with many things but having my chest draw that much was embarrassing.

"Uh…It's fine but I'm not a…harlot…my name is Hinata Hyuga, Jounin of Konohagakure."

"Have you thought about changing your profession, I'm sure you'd fair well. Men seem to talk a lot about boobs and by standard of other women in root, yours seem to be above average." Oh. My. God. I squawked in surprise. This time Sasuke was the one to ready himself to attack, with a sneer he readied himself but was stopped when I was gasping for breath, laughing. If literally anyone else had said that to me I might never come out of my room ever again…after reaching 15 and the annoyance of pervy men finally started counting me as a woman comments even more lewd than this were not that uncommon… but the bland way Sai said it…no real perverse thoughts behind his statement, it was so unbelievably embarrassing for me I had to laugh. Sai apparently had never had anyone laugh at him before and he was baffled.

"You…Hina-chan…How do you think this guy is funny! He…He called you a-a Harlot! And talked about your…things 'ttebayo!" Naruto was normally so blunt but he was tongue tied on how to say everything with out embarrassing himself and it was pure gold making me laugh even harder. I haven't really laughed like this in a long time, Sai wasn't even that funny but my chest just felt so light at the moment I couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling past my lips.

"His face never…aha…it never changed…he was so…haha…serious." I caught my breath, a small smile still playing on my face as I made eye contact with the dark void of Sai's ebony eyes. "I like you…but this whole no named business has to go so…your name is now Sai." I paused for dramatic effect before announcing his name and his smile dropped from his face, an unreadable emotion flickering through his vacant eyes.

"Sai? I…I have a name?" He spoke, not to anyone in particular, just testing the words out to see if it was real. Naruto Nodded vehemently at the name, saying how it was cool even if Sai was a jerk. Sasuke also seemed to be alright with the name, after being teammates for two years they have to have some sense of comfort and trust with one another…even if neither know it yet. It's how I feel about Suigetsu…and though it is on thin ice right now, Obito as well.

"You do now." He was pensive for a minute before giving a curt nod and letting the blank smile bloom on his face once again."Thank you…I like the name Sai. I think I will keep it. I expect Danzo-sama is going to be executed so I have no reason to not have a name." There wasn't even the hint of sadness that his superior, one who basically raised him was going to die. It was sad. Danzo really fucked with all of these kids, someone should shove a sword up his needle dick sometime soon…I would but gotta keep up my appearance as heiress and doing that is definitely worse than anything else I've done and would reflect badly on how leveled in temperament the clan is supposed to show. My… everything else…is already pushing the mold, killing an elder is pushing the limits to one even I'm slightly afraid to make. I cant change the clan politics if I have no say or respect within the clan walls.

"Why would you name a prisoner?" Ibiki curtly spoke up, one brow raised up…hiding underneath his bandana. He wasn't angry…just intrigued on why I found it necessary. He was interrogating even without tying, he just liked to know things…everything about each and every person he comes across so he does what he can to know. You don't get to be the head of TI without curiosity and trying to discover how each and every persons mind works, how they talk and act, what makes them tick, how to make them spill every secret with just a bit of prompting.

"Because…he deserves a name. Look, he's not that much older than any of us and it's not his fault Danzo is a bastard that abducts children and makes them robots."

"He's a prisoner to be used to incriminate Shimura and then after he gives us the information to track down the rest of the Root, he'll meet his end like the others." Even Naruto looked appalled at that statement.

"No Way! That is so twisted, you can't just kill somebody after you use them like that. It is just plain wrong dattebayo. They are people, not toys, not tools, living people and that bastard Danzo made them seem like less. Sai didn't even have a name, you can't kill them before they even have a chance at living. I won't stand for it." Naruto growled and stood in front of Sai protectively, his aura emanating from every pore, it was a stand of defiance and character, a stand for what is right versus what is standard protocol. Without a second thought, Sasuke and I stood beside Naruto, both supporting him. Sai looked between the three of us, getting more and more confused at why we were sticking up for him when he was so certain he was going to die.

"With all due respect Morino-san, that is such a small-minded and shitty way of thinking. I think each Root that is captured should be given a psych evaluation and that should be the factor in determining if they are fit to become Shinobi for Konoha. It shouldn't be decided based off of something most of them had little to no control over. If the point of the village is to be strong, having people with such unique skill-sets working under the Hokage for the betterment of Konoha instead of under a power hungry dick, it would be beneficial for everyone."

"Hn. I agree with the freak and dobe. Sai is annoying but he is strong and never fails a mission. He would be a good asset and teammate to keep around for the future of Konohagakure. Most of them didn't know anything but Danzo's orders so they shouldn't be blamed for what he brain washed them into doing for him."

"Orders are orders, little upstarts like you three aren't going to change the councils decision to execute them even if you are from prominent clans." It wasn't meant to be aggressive, it was just a very accurate statement…if it was for any team that wasn't our team.

"Hn." Ah, I forgot how weird it is when my teammates think the same thing as me without us having to say a word.

I crossed my arms nodding at Sasuke's statement before elaborating for those who don't speak Uchiha. "Watch us. It's two clan head children and Naru versus a bunch of old people on their death bed…even assholes like them have no chance against Naruto, the boy could talk a person in our out of anything without trying."

"Yeah! I'll make them see what's right 'ttebayo. I have to be good at this stuff if I'm going to be Hokage right Hina-chan?" Naruto's cerulean eyes were practically glowing with passion, god help anyone who tried to stand in his way on this matter.

"Right." I gave him a sharp nod of agreement. One thing we discussed of him being Hokage was he needed to be proficient in the workings of politics to be Hokage and when we combined actual knowledge with his ability to talk people into anything, he was groomed and ready to kick ass. Surprisingly, Kakashi and Zabuza were the most versed in politics and they taught us everything we needed to know to survive in the fucked up system. For people who seemed to thrive on pissing off people in higher power than them, they were very good at helping us understand the politics of the civilian council and the council of elders.

Sai looked between the three of us, his eyes analyzing everything the best he could to figure out something. There was just so much _feeling _being shown by us, even Sasuke looked less restrained than usual, he was trying to understand. "You three are very fond of one another, you seem to be more than common teammates. Why?"

"We're a family. I trust Hina-chan and Sasuke-teme with my life, we have a bond that is more than just being on Team 7 'ttebayo. We're family." Naruto wrapped his arms around us and Sasuke didn't even try to move away from the strong grip the blonde sunshine had on us. He was scowling, but the tender look in his eyes betrayed the harsh look on his face. He felt the same as Naruto did, we were family.

"Hmm." Sai was pensive, studying intensely, seeming to rack his brain for mentions of bonds and family. "If I am not executed, I would like to understand more about these bonds."

"Sounds good, Team 7 can actually have seven members now!"

"There are only 5…who else are you adding?" Sasuke looked sceptic and I grinned.

"Suiegtsu of course, he is my teammate as well and I think he would work well in our team. He's like a less intimidating but more trigger happy Zabuza." If they were to clash blades, I don't know who would win. Normally I would say Zabuza but after fighting alongside Suigetsu, he truly is a prodigious swordsman that with a bit more time might even make it to Kisame's level.

"Cool!"

"Hn."

"Sai, you have a seal preventing you from talking about Danzo like Sasuke right?" He nodded, sticking out h9s tongue so we could see the black markings on the surface. I activated my Byakugan and studied the flow, the seal was directly linked to the left frontal lobe in the small area that controls speech, it was pushing chakra constantly to that area preventing Sai from being able to talk about whatever Danzo programmed him to not be able to say. It was not an overly complex seal, but it was very effective. The only issue with removing it is the possible damage if it is not done by an expert in both chakra and sealing…lucky for Sai, Naruto and I together can hopefully fix it. "How'd you feel about having the seal removed and testifying against Danzo?"

" I don't particularly like or dislike Danzo, but you are more interesting and I would be able to see more about these bonds if I testified…correct?" There was a smirk on my face, Danzo is going down.

"Yes…Naru, think you can disable the seal while I make sure you don't fuck up the chakra receptors in his brain?" Naruto grinned foxily and pulled out a brush and black ink.

"This is easy 'ttebayo, who do you think I am." Sai leaned back and let his tongue hang out of his mouth. Naruto kneeled before Sai and studied the seal, adding chakra to see how it would react and I let him know how each flare affected the brain. After a bit of studying, Naruto re-wrote the seal, testing things while I kept him from frying Sai's brain. After a bit of time, he found a way to disable the connection of the seal with doing something I couldn't even begin to comprehend. Naruto-loudly-announced he was done and I gave him a high-five. Sasuke looked relieved, probably because he could finally get the seal off of him. Ibiki stepped forward to question Sai, using his height and glower as an intimidation tactic.

"Tell me, what was your mission given by Danzo."

"My mission was to kill the Hokage, Itachi Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha and anyone else who stood in my way. I was unsuccessful and detained by Shisui Uchiha."

"What was the reason for this assassination attempt?" I shivered, Ibiki's voice was so scary…like commanding and intense and just made you want to spill your secrets before he murdered you just by talking. Sai didn't even blink, he was not intimidated in the slightest by Ibiki, dude has balls of steel.

"Danzo-sama said that the Hokage was attempting a power move that would endanger the village and was no longer fit for her position and that he would be the one to take it upon her death." Ahh, we should expect nothing less from a power hungry, psycho war-hawk. Ibiki's overwhelmingly intense presence didn't fade but the scary-ness did, he was probably very pleased at the 'confession' this type of ammo, especially if we can have multiple ROOT agents agree, will be the downfall of Danzo…and this time it won't be illegally done by Sasuke.

We left Sai's room and checked up on the rest of the imprisoned ROOT members, a few were extremely hostile but many of them were just blank, like they were robots awaiting orders…or people who have accepted their death. It was so cruel to see how fucked up Danzo made his agents. Sasuke was the most tense of us, he knew these people and was forced to be like them even if only for a few years. Each person we met with, as long as they were willing, Naruto removed their seals and we had about 4 people willing to give their testimonies against Danzo.

I was anxious, too much to just sit idly by and wait. I went to the center of the compound to train, working on some basic taijutsu moves by hitting a stump in the ground. It splintered after each kick and with no chakra fueling the attacks I could feel the wood bruising my shins but the slight sting felt good. Today was Danzo's trial, it was very under wraps and few were aloud to enter, as far as I know I'm not welcomed.

The clan heads all get to go of course and each get a body guard, Tsunade of course will be there and Naruto is acting as her guard…the lucky bastard. The elders of the village and the civilian council will also be in attendance. Shisui as clan head will be there but he is also giving a testimony so his vote is nullified. Father has not left yet but I know he will be leaving soon enough. I rotated my hips and spun on the ball of my right foot, sending a harsh kick to the upper tier of the training post. My shin tingled at the hit but I ignored it, sliding in and sending an open palmed strike right to the center of the post. I was going in for another strike but a pale hand stopped mine and forcefully pinned me to the ground. I spit the dirt from my mouth and grinned back at my attacker.

"Hello Nii-san." He smiled amicably back, releasing me and giving me a hand up.

"Hello Hinata-hime, you need to work on sensing your surroundings even when stressed. I should not have been able to counter you so easily." I frowned, he was right, I needed to work on being able to sense better without my Byakugan.

"Yeah yeah, what's up?"

"I need your aid. As it stands, your father is not seen as mentally stable enough to act as clan head after his encounter with Orochimaru. Because of that, I am still the acting clan head in public situations such as the Danzo Shimura trial. Knowing that his trial against the Uchiha and the Village is what is making you stressed, I would like to invite you to act as my guard during the event." My father not being in attendance because of Orochimaru was surprising but I guess it shouldn't be. Danzo will do anything to clear his name and if he is able to get a clan head out of his trial, especially one who has fervently refused any offers to have the Hyuga in ROOT, he would hope he could convince the new head to join his side. Too bad for him, Neji is not an idiot and no way would he join a side against Naruto or me when it came down to someone as sick and twisted as Danzo, no flowery words or promises would be able to sway Neji.

"You know I love you right?"

"Yes, you have mentioned it before."

Neji was dressed in our clan robes, the vibrant Hyuga clan symbol presented proudly on the back and the left breastplate of the white and muted purple robes. There were no weapons on his person, he didn't look ready to fight but ready to have a council. I was dressed the opposite, I was ready for battle, to fight to protect my clans (temporary) leader. Since I had returned to the village I hadn't had time to put on my ninja attire, I was normally in my civilian clothes or doctor scrubs so I felt more myself being dressed in the outfit Konan and I put together. I guess now is as time as any to debut my kick-ass look. I had kunai and senbon strapped to my thigh, as well as other weapons hidden throughout in case things got messy and I had to fight.

I had no doubts that today was going to be a shit-show of the highest caliber, trying to condemn a tyrant like Danzo, no matter how much shit we had on him, was bound to get messy especially with the high esteemed he was held by the civilians and elders. We were escorted to a room I didn't even know existed, just one of the many secrets held from those not in the highest positions of power. The room was large yet not overly so, the chairs were arranged in a circle, the four in the directly facing a raised platform were just a bit more extravagant than the others, those were saved for the Noble clans. Shibi Aburame with his guard Shino and Chouza Akimichi with Genma as his guard were already in their respected seats as noble clan members. Shisui was not in his seat for the Uchiha clan, most likely unable to take his seat if he is giving a testimony as well. Neji took his place, sitting like the prince he was, and I stood behind him, giving a wave to Shino who inclined his head in greeting. Man, the got so freaking tall.

Shikaku, with a bored Shikamaru acting as his guard, was lazing in his chair beside Chouza. Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes at me, clearly not wanting to be here though knowing it would be good for his learning of the in's and out's as future clan head. Inoichi, with Ibiki as his guard, was to Shikaku's right, the three elder Ino-Shika-Cho members talking to one another like the old friends they were. Tsume walked in after Neji and I, taking her seat with her companion Kuromaru as her guard. She grinned wolfishly at me and I returned it with fervor, I loved her so much. She was like the cool aunt and whenever Kiba and I hung out she gave me extra food at dinner. Asuma was there with a cigarette in his mouth, representing his respected clan and having Raido as his guard.

There was a seat marked with the Hatake clan symbol, though Kakashi is the last, he is still part of a clan until he (or if he choses to have children…though unlikely) dies. I truly hope if Kakashi shows up he has Gai as his mandatory guard, I haven't the magnificent beast yet and I want him to smother me in a hug and inflict the cringey sparkling sunset genjutsu he powers with his influx of emotions. Kayane Hōki, the leader of the clan that made their ranks after escaping Suna years back, was in her seat as well, looking Poised and elegant yet conflicted in her eyes. She had a guard who looked just like the male version of her, a brother perhaps.

The raised platform had one large throne, two slightly smaller ones on either side, and the two more normal seats along each side. Tsunade was sitting on the throne, Naruto dressed in a black battle kimono top, and gaudy, tight, orange pants. He grinned and gave me a thumbs up on my new clothing, I smiled back and stuck out my tongue. Behind her Koharu and Homura were both in their seats beside Tsunade, their faces wrinkly and volatile as always. In the center of the circle there was flooring that looked displaced, it seemed more like a trap door than anything else. Mebuki Haruno was sitting with Agari Kaisen on the side of Koharu while Chisue Kagetsu and Sango Mitarashi were on the side of Homura.

Each council member had a Shinobi guarding them, the only one I knew by name was Ebisu. Anko wasn't with her distant civilian relative, they never saw eye to eye after Orochimaru and she'd stab him before she'd go out of her way to save his life. Even sharing a last name, she was an orphan and did not consider herself part of the merchant clan. The civilian council men and women were straight faced, though there was a definite distain in each of their eyes as they looked over the Shinobi clans.

I flinched when Mebuki Haruno's cold eyes met mine. Flashbacks of pain and suffering came up but I shoved them down impressively fast. As much as Sakura hurt me, I know losing her daughter had to have been hard and she blamed me for her death. hell, I blamed myself for her death, if I hadn't taken her spot perhaps she wouldn't have gone wild with love and grown into the strong (though annoying) girl she did in Shippuden. Today was not the time to let my demons rise, I would have to wait until the world wasn't in chaos to face all the shit I'd caused living in a place I didn't belong.

Tsunade had her hands crossed over her mouth, her brown eyes narrowed at Kakashi's seat in annoyance. He was the only one not here and after waiting for a bit, it was grating on everyone's nerves. She flicked her wrist and a brown haired ANBU with a mask that was eerily familiar appeared at her side. She whispered in his ear and he flashed away without even a trace of his chakra remaining in the flashy smoke Jounin so loved to leave. A brief moment of silence…were Naruto and I totally were not trying to hide the amusement of Kakashi's predictable behavior…went by and then the ANBU returned. He was standing in the center of the room with a lazy looking Kakashi and a crying Gai.

"Hatake." He didn't even flinch at her tone, instead smiling infuriatingly calm towards the Hokage.

"My apologies, I was helping a poor little dog who got stuck in a tree running from a feral cat." He spoke like his reasoning was so normal and he was bettering society with his act. I missed these unbelievable lies Kakashi makes just to grate on peoples nerves. The anger emanating from all those on the panel of judges dissipated to bafflement with Gai loudly slinking to his knees.

"I am so sorry my fair maidenA, Lady Hokage. My eternal rival told me the meeting started later, for my unyouthful behavior I will travel the Hokage Monument 500 times with just my pink finger!" The tense atmosphere of the impending trial was gone for a moment at the sorrow filled background Gai created with his tears. Those who weren't used to Gai flinched back and I covered my mouth in a snicker. Even Neji looked highly amused as his Sensei's actions.

"Just go to your seat, _both_ of you." Kakashi was dragged by Gai and they took their positions. Now that everyone was present, Tsunade clapped her hands and the room went silent for her to talk. When she wanted to, her presence was as powerful as her fists and though we were strained in our relationship right now, she's still my mentor and I would protect her.

"We are gathered here today for the judgment of a prominent member of Konohagakure. This is the trial and judgement of Danzo Shimura. You have all given consent to being apart of this judgement: the Clan heads of our most prominent clans, the elders of the village, the leaders of the civilian council, and I the Godaime Hokage. The only exempt clan is that of the Uchiha, none of the remaining members are part of the judgement in part of them being on the prosecution team. Speak now if you are incapable of being unbiased and have a conflict of interest during this trial." The room was dead silent and a slightly cruel gleam entered her eyes as she sat back. "Good." Tsunade pressed a button and the panel in the floor opened and Danzo was raised from the floor.

The war hawk looked like shit. He was kneeling, his hands bound and held by chakra draining chains on either side of him. There was a seal right on his covered forehead, one definitely done by Jiraiya himself keeping all of Danzo's chakra and possible hidden seals at bay. His face was pale and held the most malicious look directed towards Tsunade, it was so _cold_. Even those who knew Danzo looked slightly shocked at the dangerous and feral look the smug yet put together bastard normally wore. Shikaku sat up a bit straighter and Shibi's eyes gleamed in a recognition and disdain. Neji was impartial, he never had the misfortune of meeting Danzo, he stayed away from the Hyuga knowing the clan would never let the Byakugan in anyone else's hands.

"We all gather here for the trial of Danzo Shimura, judgement will be withheld until all evidence is on the table. He is under trial for the suspicion of Treason, being a bystander in the Kyuubi attack as well as Orochimaru's invasion, the cause of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, defaming a prized Shinobi and forcing him to turn rogue, the attempted murder of Shisui Uchiha, defacing the dead bodies of the Uchiha in order to obtain their Sharingan for your own power, the attempted murder of the Hokage, the attempted murder of Sasuke Uchiha, the attempted murder of the heiress of the Hyuga clan, and the attempted murder of the heiress of the Yamanaka clan. All of these he has pleaded not guilty." Neji's eyes narrowed just slightly at the mention of my name, this was going to be interesting.

"Hokage-dono how have you come up with so many baseless accusations for Danzo, he has put his life on the line many times over for the sake of this village." Koharu spoke up first, her voice filled with disbelief and masked anger. Homura adjusted his glasses, also looking at Tsunade for answers on why his teammate was chained like a dog. Tsunade's lips curled into a sardonic smile.

"Just wait and see." She flared her chakra and the door opened. The slew of unmasked ROOT members Naruto had unsealed walked in followed by Sasuke and Shisui. Danzo's eyes hardened when his former soldiers walked in, not even sparing him a glance. They all took their spots waiting to gibe their testimony. "Ino-chan please enter." Ino walked in, her head held high and dressed for battle. I did not know she was coming to this, what the hell. "Ino Yamanaka with the aid of Ibiki Morino has gone through the memories of each person going to be put on the stand today. As it stands, she also will act as a lie detector and swore under oath to not allow any lies to pass through this trial."

"The Yamanaka child is nothing but a child." Koharu spoke up once more, her face pale. This amount of possible ammo against their beloved teammate was definitely bad for him.

"She is a trusted Tokubetsu Jounin of this village. Age does not matter as much as skill does it not?"

"Yes Hokage-dono." Ino made her way down to Danzo, her eyes glowed for a second and her chakra flared as she pressed a hand on Danzo's shoulder, connecting her to his central system to see if he is lying or not.

"We will begin with the accusations of treason by being a bystander in the Kyuubi attack as well as Orochimaru's invasion. Danzo Shimura, explain why during both attacks there were no evidence of your ROOT members, may of which were skilled enough to have prevented many losses to the standing by during the village is not only cause of many civilian death, it also puts you as a factor in the death of both the Sandaime and Yondaime Hokage. It is not unknown that you fought for position of for Sandaime, Yondaime, and Godaime Hokage saying often that you were better suited than us softhearted Hokage. It is not far off that you might have wanted the position bad enough to let the village fall so you could rebuild it from the ashes in your image especially with the other Hokage dead. What say you?"

"ROOT is not a large faction, all of the non-trainees were sent out on missions during each attack."

"Truth."

"Though, I cannot deny my disdain for the Hokage's this village has elected, I have never purposely had my hand in the Hokage who have fallen." His wording was off just slightly, he made sure to tell the truth but there was something about it, something hidden like he avoided answering something with overly specific wording. He didn't talk about the fall of the village part, just saying he didn't cause the death of those already dead. No doubt, others picked up on it as well.

"Truth." Danzo smirked at the relieved expression on his teammates faces and the frustrated look of Shisui.

"If the village were to fall would you be accepting of that." Danzo glared, not wanting to be asked that.

"Yes. If the village were to fall it is because it is weak and led by those who are weak. I would rebuild the village and make it strong so it would not fall again. I would fight to the death for the village."

"Truth." Ino hesitated but acknowledged he was not lying. Damn, this dude knew how to make things sound so much less evil and more for the common good than I thought. That didn't take away from him being willing to let the village fall though and that was something that even made the civilian council glare, they were the weakest during the invasion and if the village fell, they'd be the first to die. That made them more susceptible to join the side against Danzo, Tsunade is good at what she does. Though, that wasn't enough to get him condemned to anything.

"That is enough for now. Next we will be discussing your the attempted murder of the Hokage, the attempted murder of Sasuke Uchiha, the attempted murder of the heiress of the Hyuga clan, and the attempted murder of the heiress of the Yamanaka clan. How do you plead to these claims?"

"Not guilty, _I _never attempted your deaths." Nope you just ordered your brainwashed underlings to do it.

"True." Tsunade didn't look disgruntled in the slightest, in fact she laughed. Danzo grit his teeth.

"Right, let me rephrase that. Danzo Shimura you never personally attempted murder of the Hokage, Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, and Ino Yamanaka but you did send out the order to take me, and anyone else who stood in the way, during an intensive surgery two days before now, a surgery in which Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, and Ino Yamanaka were in attendance. In fact, Hinata Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha were both in the hospital from the aftermath of your attack." Danzo had no response and Tsunade was not ready to let him talk, many were still disbelieving of these claims. "I would like to call the ROOT members willing to testify to the stand. Step forward."

6 ROOT members stepped forward. Sai was among them smiling as weird as ever and I'm sure he has some quip at the tip of his tongue to spout off. Maybe he'll make another dick joke to Naruto.

"If you wouldn't mind, recount the mission of ROOT. Your memories have already been checked so Ino will clarify if true or not." The woman stepped forward first and told of being recruited into root and killing her teammate. Next person spoke of the missions they were tasked and how they were emotionless for the basis of Danzo's wishes. The next spoke of meeting with Orochimaru, that definitely got some more people wary of Danzo. Many muttered of how cruel he was but even his bloody mist training was not anything he could be executed for. Finally Sai spoke.

"Two days ago at 01:47 in the morning, Danzo ordered us to kill the Hokage because she disbanded ROOT and he wanted her dead before the public found out. He gave us the information of her being in surgery and told us to kill anyone and everyone in the room so there were no witnesses. We were apprehended by different Shinobi stationed as guards and failed our mission of killing the Hokage. I stabbed Hinata Hyuga once in the back before being apprehended by Shisui Uchiha." So he's the asshole who stabbed me. Danzo's face hardened once more, he looked like he was getting closer and closer to losing his shit. That evil look was now back and he was glowering at Sai who just smiled back.

"They are all telling the truth." Naruto growled and Sasuke's face pinched in a scowl, though he looked equally as pleased that Danzo was getting more and more angry. Shikamaru and Neji both looked pissed and all of the clan heads were now at rapt attention. The room lowered in temperature except for Tsunade who looked smug as hell.

"Sasuke speak."

"I was undercover as a ROOT agent for over 2 years and Danzo was difficult to catch doing anything slightly Treasonous." His voice was low, cold, and detached though his disdain when he spit out Danzo's name was blatantly obvious.

"True." Homura and Koharu relaxed a bit, others looked confused once more, Sasuke seemed to be going against everything just spoken. Though, the smirk on Sasuke's face spoke volumes.

"And pray tell, why did you ask to join ROOT?"

"I planned on killing Danzo and destroying everything he worked so hard for, his reputation included." Sasuke glowered, his voice no longer cold and now was filled with a fury, a vengeance so hate filled in a way only Sasuke could do. His eyes were burning into Danzo, even still coal black they seemed to glow red with hatred.

"True." A few were ready to speak up, obviously put out by Sasuke's vengeful statement but Tsunade silenced them with a look.

"Why?"

"Danzo Shimura is the reason Itachi killed my entire clan." Ino's blue eyes widened and she pressed a hand to Sasuke, who was more than willing to let them know he wasn't lying.

"True." Everyone in the room was shocked, it showed in varying degrees but it was definitely not a peaceful reaction to learning that Itachi didn't just up and murder everyone, though the parameters of why was still unknown to most. All eyes turned to Danzo, demanding an explanation. Another flare of Tsunade's chakra and Itachi walked in. He was still barely able to mould chakra so he was not in fighting condition but the sickly pallor of his skin was long gone and his eyes were finally bright and could see perfectly again.

He raked his calm eyes over everyone, stopping and narrowing at Danzo just barely. The room silenced at his appearance, Itachi commanded people to watch him no matter how sweet or young he was. It was only yesterday Tsunade announced his return and hopefully tonight she would announce his (and the rest of the Akatsuki if they prove their loyalty on the mission they are on right now in finding ROOT members and destroying all outside contacts Danzo had) mission and how he was always a loyal ninja.

"Itachi Uchiha. Please recount the mission given to you on the night of the Uchiha Massacre." Ino easily grabbed his hand, having worked to save his life and rehabilitate him she was now fond of the kind and stoic nature of the prodigy.

"My clan was planning a Coup D'etat of the village after the scrutiny and exile our clan was given. That would have caused a civil war and brought the village to it's knees so o a secret mission ordered by Danzo and Danzo alone, I was to kill my clan. I had to trade my life for Sasuke's, I was to go rogue as long as I was not required to kill Sasuke with the rest of the clan. Danzo promised if I did not comply and allowed the Coup to happen, Sasuke would be the first to die so in order to protect my precious little brother and the rest of the village, I executed a mass murder of my clan." Itachi spoke calmly, his eyes unseeing as he forced himself to relive the night he destroyed his family. There were saddened and disbelieving glances sent towards him as he talked, it was too far-fetched to be a lie.

"True." In less than 5 minutes of talking, Itachi had changed the peoples opinion on him, I could see the gleam in regarding the young man as a hero. He took such a burden to protect his brother and the village, Itachi was truly loyal to a fault and with that he earned the respect of everyone in the room. Many eyes looked even further down on Danzo, scrutinizing the man for putting such a heavy burden on such a young boy, threatening his brother just to get what he wanted. Homura stood up from his chair, getting everyone's attention.

"Although I agree that Uchiha-san was given a heavy burden and should be welcomed back to the village, this is still no reason to hold a trial for Danzo-sama. He stopped the village from falling from the inside out by stopping the Coup D'etat with the fallen Uchiha clan. It is harsh but he took the hard road for the sake of the village." Murmurs of begrudging agreement flittered through the ranks and Danzo smirked. Tsunade returned it levelly.

"That would be true; however, there was another option that did not require bloodshed. One that Danzo knew about and blatantly sabotaged so that he was able to acquire the eyes of the Uchiha clan for his own benefit." Neji flinched, his forehead itching with the seal. Even being marked with the seal, he knew how despicable it was to steal the eyes of a clan to gain their powers. As wrong as it was, the seal in the aspect of rendering the eyes useless made sense. "Shisui Uchiha, come to the stand."

Shisui walked forward with a smooth grace, his face hardened as he stared out at Danzo. With practiced ease that came from obsessively rehearsing what he was going to say, Shisui began talking, his voice echoing throughout the room.

"Before Itachi was sent to kill my-our clan, I was the one given the mission to stop the Coup under the orders of Hiruzen Sarutobi. When I activated my Mangekyo Sharingan, I had unlocked a special jutsu called the Kotoamatsukami. It was possible to only be activated once in a normal lifespan and it gave me the ability to sway the minds of any person in my vicinity. I had planned on using it to change the will of the Uchiha so they would no longer want to do the Coup and would actively work on finding peace within the village. The day I was going to use it, Danzo and his ROOT at the time attacked, stealing one of my eyes. That night I gave Itachi the other for safe keeping and jumped to my death only to be saved. I woke up after being comatose and the massacre had already happened."

"Truth."

"And where is your eye that Danzo stole now?"

"Behind his wrappings. He implanted it into himself."

"Truth."

"The bandages around his arm are also hiding the eyes of my clan, my family that he stole from their graves." Sasuke spoke up, it was more of a hiss as he grabbed Ino's hand to prove his truth. Ino gasped horrified.

"T-truth."

'Neji Hyuga, confirm this statement." Neji activated his Byakugan and looked over Danzo.

"He has chakra being rerouted to different parts of his body, though it cant be activated there are definitely foreign eyes implanted into his arm and one in his eye socket behind the bandages." Danzo growled.

"I'm doing this for the sake of the village, when I am the most powerful Hokage nobody can stand up against Konohagakure."

"We've heard enough from you." Tsunade snapped. "Now that everything is out in the open, it is time to decide your fate. Mebuki Haruno, Agari Kaisen, Chisue Kagetsu, and Sango Mitarashi what say you?" The briefly discussed and Mebuki took the lead to speak.

"We find Danzo Shimura guilty on all charges and condemn him to life in prison." She spoke calmly and Danzo shot a harsh, withering look to her.

"Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane what are your decisions?" Tsunade looked between the two, waiting for the crap to spew.

"Danzo-sama is not guilty on all charges, he did what was expected to keep the village safe from harm." Homura spoke, his glasses glinting as he gave Danzo a nod.

"Danzo-sama is guilty on the charge of defacing the graves of the Uchiha and the attempted murder of the Hokage and should be condemned to losing the Sharingan he has attained and his spot on the council." At least one of his friends isn't a total idiot.

"Kayane Hōki what say you?" The woman stood proudly representing her clan with poise and elegance of a trained warrior.

"Danzo Shimura is guilty on the charge of defacing the graves of the Uchiha and the attempted murder of the Hokage and should be condemned to losing the Sharingan by any means the remaining Uchiha deem appropriate and his spot on the council shall be forfeited."

"Kakashi Hatake what say you?" Kakashi stood up, a stormy gray eye observing Danzo with contempt before smiling up at Tsunade.

"Danzo Shimura is guilty on all accounts of course and as punishment…Maa Sasuke-kun and his family get to decide what happens to the old man, anything we think of will surely not be as interesting as what they could plan for him." Only he could make the impending execution of Danzo sound like them choosing where to eat dinner. Kakashi gave a nod to Sasuke, getting one back from his student. With leisure, Kakashi sat back down, pulling out his book to read.

"Tsume Inuzuka what say you."

"The ass is guilty on all charges and is condemned to death by whatever means the Uchiha kids deem fitting."

"Shibi Aburame what say you?"

"Danzo Shimura is guilty on all charges and should be condemned to losing the Sharingan by any means the remaining Uchiha deem appropriate put in prison for the remainder of his life." His voice was deep, extremely so and though he did not speak often, when he did it made people listen.

"Neji Hyuga what say you?" Neji placed his hands together and sat up straighter, talking with poise and grace.

"Danzo Shimura is guilty on all accounts and is condemned to execution by fire, burning him to ash."

"Chouza Akimichi what say you?"

"Danzo Shimura is guilty on all charges and should be condemned to losing the Sharingan by any means the remaining Uchiha deem appropriate put in prison for the remainder of his life."

"Shikaku Nara what say you?"

"Hmm, Danzo Shimura is guilty on all charges, his fate is to be decided by the Uchiha clan."

"Inoichi Yamanaka what say you?"

"Danzo Shimura is guilty on all charges, his fate is to be decided by the Uchiha clan." Tsunade clapped her hands.

"This meeting is coming to an end. The fate of Danzo is overwhelming left to the Uchiha clan, you three get to decide his fate." Sasuke moved faster than I had ever seen him move. In the blink of an eye he was standing beside Danzo, his sword drawn and covered in blood. Danzo's arm dropped to the floor in a bloody mass and the man let out a wail of pain.

"You fucking brats you'll regret this. This dammed village will fall and I hope you live to watch the ones you love-" Sasuke shut up the speech as he beheaded Danzo, the blood spraying the crowd. Someone threw up, probably one of the civilians. Sasuke was bathed in blood, the glistening red splashed on his pale face, making the glow of his Sharingan that much more intimidating. With ease, Sasuke shoved his hand into Danzo's eye and pulled out Shisui's Sharingan, tossing it up to the curly haired Uchiha.

Sasuke was smiling, it wasn't a nice one. His lips were pulled back menacingly as he smiled down at the corpse, forever savoring the moment of his sword slicing through Danzo's body. Naruto looked away the scene but even the pure hearted boy couldn't find it in himself to feel bad for the war hawk.

"Maa, that was anti-climatic, I expected something more melodramatic from you Sasuke-kun." Kakashi was the first to speak after the execution, smiling like he didn't have blood dripping down his face.

"I'll remember that for next time." Sasuke's voice was strained, his eyes flickered through so many emotions as he realized what had happened. Itachi was by his side soon, his arm around his brother and whispering to go home and clean up. Sasuke nodded, his eyes still staring at the mutated arm in his hand. Shisui grabbed both of them and with no words exchanged, they created fireballs and burned his body to ash. I could feel the heat and smell the burned flesh from my spot, it was horrible and I cringed, wanting to cover my nose at the stench but deciding against it in respect for their send-off of Danzo. After a bow and a thank you from Shisui, Itachi was still muttering to an in-shock Sasuke, he flashed them home.

"You are all dismissed, go home and thank you for your actions as the leaders of this village." We all bowed and left, nobody really wanting to speak to one another after the heaviness from all the secrets were spilled today.


	27. Interlude: A fathers love

Kakashi, Sasuke, Konohamaru, Jiraiya, and I were all sitting in a small coffee house Iruka had asked us to come meet him at. I had no idea why he asked all of us to meet but the kind man seemed urgent in us attending. I'm surprised Kakashi is on time, that never happens and it was making me wary. Iruka rushed in, looking ruffled and he fidgeted as he greeted us all with kind smiles.

"Iruka-sensei, what is the emergency, Kakashi-sensei is never on time for things?" I questioned my old teacher as he sat down across from me and gracefully poured some tea in a cup.

"Yeah yeah Iruka-sensei why'd ya call me down here, I was going to learn a cool jutsu to show Naruto-nii?" Konohamaru questioned, the boy was definitely a mini Naruto. He's gotten so big now its crazy. Iruka laughed, scratching behind his head, a flush coating the scar on his nose.

"Um, I might have told Kakashi to be here 3 hours earlier than the rest of you so he'd be on time." Kakashi smiled at Iruka, even he thought the idea was smart. Iruka seemed to relax slightly at the idea that Kakashi wasn't mad at him, the Jounin was intimidating without even trying.

"That's genius!" Sasuke even looked impressed, we should have thought of doing that years ago. He laughed and his hands tightened around the tea cup. With a deep breath, Iruka laid some papers on the table, Konohamaru and Jiraiya scrambled to grab them, Sasuke easily got one of his own, I stayed looking at Iruka waiting for him to talk.

"I talked to Lady Hokage earlier and was granted permission, but I wanted to ask for those closest to Naruto-kun as well and see if you are accepting if I…if I asked to officially adopt Naruto-kun as my own kin." My breath caught in my throat and my face blossomed into a huge smile. "I know I cannot replace his parents but I love Naruto-kun like my own son and promise to protect and care for him with everything I have. I would like him to be my family in more than just by word. I want him to have somebody to go home to every night and somebody to love him and provide for him so he is not as alone. I know you all do an excellent job at loving him, he endlessly talks about how you are his family so I would like to ask, beg if needed, for you would allow me to take him in legally."

Iruka spoke so passionately, his love for Naruto was oozing out of him as he spoke. When he finished he lowered his head waiting for the response so he missed the softening expressions of everyone around him. Konohamaru was glowing with the biggest grin. Kakashi was smiling, a genuinely happy and prideful smile towards the academy teacher. Jiraiya looked shocked but it soon shifted into a soft smile for the kind man. Even Sasuke looked pleased, he knew Naruto deserved a real family more than anyone else. In our silence, Iruka looked up and an ear to ear smile broke across his face, his happiness blatantly showing on his face at our expressions. Tears welled up in his eyes and he wiped them away as he smiled. His face fell a second later, Iruka wore his emotions on his sleeve and it was refreshing to see such after the week I'd had.

"Do you-will he want me to adopt him. What if he says no?" Iruka panicked and before it could get out of hand, kakashi was (surprisingly) the one to step in. With the most honest smike Kakashi had ever put on his face, he placed a hand on Iruka's shoulder, meeting his eye steadily.

"Iruka-sensei, you are one of the best and most genuine people I have gotten to know. I do not think there is a better option than you to adopt Naruto-kun. I _know_ he will say yes." All of our eyes shot to Kakashi, he was so awkward in talking with people about emotions and yet he was so…honest and gave Iruka the best comforting words I have ever heard from him. This side of Kakashi was so rare but it was treasured deeply by all of us there. When Iruka looked ready to hug Kakashi though, he stepped back and shoved his hands into his pockets, sitting down to avoid the contact.

"Don't be stupid Iruka-sensei, Naruto-nii loves you. He always talks about how happy he is when you take him to Ichiraku Ramen or train him after class." Iruka laughed happily, seeming embarrassed at his panic.

"Kakashi-kun is right, the little toad never shut up about you Iruka-san, he would be thrilled." Jiraiya spoke up, giving Iruka a thumbs up. As his godfather, his agreement was most important and Iruka breathed easier knowing Naruto seemed to love him as much as he loved the boy.

"Hn. The dobe would be an idiot to say no to getting a family." I stood up quickly and tackled Iruka into a hug. He easily caught me and placed a hand on my head, reaching out another to ruffle Sasuke's hair.

"Thank you for loving Naru Iruka-sensei." He would be a great dad for Naruto. He smiled down at me, it was so warm and parental.

"Thank you, both of you for taking care of him." Sasuke humphed but his lips lifted slightly into a smile. I smiled so bright my cheeks hurt, my eyes were burning with tears of happiness but they didn't fall.

"When are you going to tell him?" Iruka rubbed the back of his head, his eyes flickering to the entrance of the coffee shop.

"Ahh, Lady Hokage and Kazekage-dono should be bringing him over soon. I kind of was banking on you saying yes already, heh. I wanted you all to be here for it." He's too nice oh my gosh.

"Lets throw a party for him! For you both. I'm sure Naru will want to tell everyone as soon as possible." It would also be a great chance for Naruto to meet everyone, he's been bugging me to meet them and they finally got back from hunting down ROOT.

"I think he'd like that. Naruto-kun loves being with people." Iruka was glowing with excitement and nerves but he looked so happy it was infectious. The shop door jingled and the loud voice of Naruto floated around as he talked animatedly with Gaara. He stopped when seeing everyone, a happy, foxy grin grew as he bounded over.

"Hi Iruka-sensei, Pervy-sage. Why are you all here dattebayo?"

"Naruto-kun can-can you sit?"

"Huh sure. Wait, whatever Konohamaru-kun said I did it's a lie 'ttebayo. He did it."

"HEY!" Konohamaru shouted indignantly and everyone snickered.

"Hn, dobe." Sasuke snorted and Naruto looked ready to attack him when Iruka stepped

"You're not in trouble Naruto-kun." Naruto's wide blue eyes looked around at everyone, seeing the smiles on all of our faces. He looked extremely confused.

"What's going on?" Iruka gathered all the papers and handed them to Naruto. The blonde read over them a few times, his posture going rigid and he looked up at Iruka with wide, disbelieving eyes. "You-You… this isn't a joke right…do y-you really wanna?" He was whispering his words, brain still trying to process everything.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I love you like my own child and although I know I can't replace your real parents, I will do everything in my power to care for you and be a good dad. Will you do me the honor of allowing me to officially adopt you?" Naruto's shock changed into the biggest smile I'd ever seen and he launched himself at Iruka, taking the man down as he squeezed his life out and bawled into his Chunin vest.

"YES! I love you so much Iruka-sensei, thank you thank you thank you." He cried out loudly sobbing with joy. He looked back at us and gave a watery smile. "I-I have a new Dad!"

The energy of the party was so high. Naruto was burning bright like the sun as he spread his happiness, telling anyone and everyone about his adoption. All of the rookies were here with their Sensei's, Neji and his team, some of Iruka's friends, Team Konohamaru, Gaara, the Uchiha, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the Akatsuki finally showed up. Fū even came and I finally got to meet her. She fluttered around me and we became fast friends. She is so nice, kinda crazy and obsessed with cute things, but she gave me a big hug and we planned to hang out later, having a girls day with Ino and TenTen included. Apparently Fū really, really has a thing for Shisui, going on and on about him. It was adorable.

"Look at him, his big doe eyes and curly hair! He's so pretty 'ssu, and he's so nice. I think love him." Shisui smiled at her and gestured for her to come closer. She blushed prettily and left me to go flirt with him, both blushing as soon as they started talking.

Naruto dragged me over to meet all my 'totally crazy looking' friends.

"So you're the Kyuubi brat? Huh." Kakuzu muttered, looking him over before turning back to talk with Hanabi who was eagerly telling him something. Nobody had dismissed Naruto like that without being afraid or hateful to him so he didn't know what to say. None of my friends were disgusted by him so he was thoroughly confused. He grabbed Hidan and asked the only one who wasn't stone faced the whole time (other than Deidara of course).

"Why don't you hate me and call me demon? You're not afraid of the Kyuubi?"

"Hah why the fuck would any of us care that you have some shitty demon or whatever inside you, we're the real demons. Your little pet fox doesn't scare us, we're not fuckin' pansies." The Jashinist replied like Naruto was an idiot. Naruto didn't even blink at his language, instead feeling elated that they didn't hate him because he was a jinchuriki.

"You know, you're kind of a bastard but I like you!" Naru held out a tanned fist for Hidan to bump.

"Yeah sure." Hidan bumped Naruto's fist and the blonde ran around, trying to make friends with everyone else, easily doing it with Deidara when he insulted Sasuke. Suigetsu and him also got along easily, both talkative and random in their thoughts and crazy desire to always spar to prove they are so amazingly awesome. The one thing I didn't take into consideration was Sasori meeting Kakashi. As soon as he saw the silver haired sensei, Sasori had a knife at Kakashi's throat, Kakshi returning the favor with a kunai at Sasori's chest.

"Are you ready to die son of the white fang?"

"Maa Maa, Do you think you could kill little old me?" Gaara's sand burst between the two, shoving them back. Clearly meeting the son of the man who killed his parents managed to evoke an extremely angry from Sasori and they were not to be together. Deidara kept Sasori away from Kakashi and Gai kept Kakashi away from Sasori, they were just people who would never get along.

Gaara and Deidara surprisingly didn't hate each other, Gaara was intrigued by Deidara's clay and was interested in watching an explosion. Sasori also spoke with Gaara, they had been together and the puppet master agreed to go with Gaara to Suna for a bit to see his grandmother before he'd return back to Konoha. Kakuzu and Shikamaru also were pleasantly not trying to kill one another, they engaged in a game of Shogi and Shikamaru's win impressed the old miser enough to get respect. Hidan on the other hand thought Shikamaru was a lazy shit Shikamaru thought Hidan was obnoxious so they definitely did not get along.

When Hidan wasn't riling up people, he hung out with me, drinking and making fun of things while every once and awhile slipping in some kind of pick up line. Ino thought Hidan was so great and Neji still wanted to murder the immortal.

The biggest surprise of the night was Zabuza showing up. He was off on a diplomatic mission with Anko. I laughed when I heard those two were on a _diplomatic_ mission but when Tsunade said it was to form an alliance with Kiri, it made more sense. Zabuza knew Mei and how Kiri works and would be the best to do it and Anko loves him so they went together…also apparently Anko is pregnant (thanks to Sasuke telling me) and didn't tell me so when she gets home I'm giving her a nice punch to the face. That explains her lack of see-through clothing though.

Zabzua slammed the door to the apartment open, arguing with Anko about Mei _not _hitting on him and him not flirting back but as soon as he saw me, he was right in front of me and slammed me to a wall. I smiled happily and hugged him, getting shoved off almost instantly, I missed him so much. I can't wait for him to train us with Kakashi, I even missed their human pin cushion days.

"Hi Zabuza-sempai."

"You are a crazy fucking brat you know that? You leave on a mission to bring back some Uchiha kid and you come back with Kisame Hoshigaki and a bunch of other Rogue's as friends. Are you fucking insane? Actually no, you are insane. Bat shit crazy. Only a little shit like you would befriend people, I thought you were dumb for even brining me to this village. I'm not going to be even slightly surprised when you die." His voice was as low and deadly as always while he questioned my sanity. Seems like somebodies father instincts are starting to show.

"I missed you too Zabuza-sempai." I smiled cheekily at his masked face.

"Don't even start that you little shit." A pale blue hand gripped onto Zabuza's shoulder and the area dropped at the sharp (evil) smiles exchanged. I was no longer being shoved into a wall so I just took in the tension between the swordsman…men and their ego's.

"Oh look, big bad demon Zabuza is grown up." Kisame had a hand on Samehada.

"Hoshigaki, still as ugly as ever." Zabuza gripped the hilt of his blade.

"Hey Master Zabuza, let's fight. If I win I get the executioners blade." Suigetsu pulled out _Kiba_ ready to battle.

"You're still an upstart, I'll have you dead before you can blink brat."

"I hate to break up this dick measuring contest but we're inside, none of you are killing one another during Naru's adoption party."

At the end of the night, Naruto and Iruka had signed the papers officially making Naruto his son and all was right in the world…until we got a dreaded summon the next morning.


	28. War: There are no real winners

"Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, Tenten Takahashi." Tsunade addressed each of us with her no-nonsense tone. All of us have never been called into her office for a mission at the same time, something big must be happening. Kurenai and Asuma were on their Honeymoon while Kakashi and Gai were out of the village on an S-ranked mission so we were left to our own devices. The village was short on Jounin and Chunin capable of leaving the village as of now, the borders were heavily protected and many ninja were off somewhere we didn't know.

"**Here.**" We all chorused, standing to attention in the missions office. Iruka looked pale as he read over the scroll in his hands. There was a tense air between Iruka and Tsunade, they must have argued about something. Most likely doing with Naruto because his worried brown eyes kept looking over at his son.

"This has been kept under wraps for obvious reasons but for the past few years relations between Konohagakure and Kōrigakure have been tense and as of 3 months ago they have declared war on us and we have been engaged in battle since. We planned on finishing the war before it could become harmful but the tides of the war were changed to befitting Kōrigakure. if they advance out of their territory it is possible for them to ally with Iwagakure and Kumogakure which will start yet another great war, one that with the advancements of Kōrigakure, we would face heavy casualties. We have lost many good shinobi to this war and it is time to end it."

"Wait, we're at war? Why did none of us know of this?" Tenten questioned and most of us nodded in agreement. I knew there were small battles going on throughout the world but I had no Idea Konoha was at war with another village, especially such a small one. They must be strong if Tsunade is this worried. I feel so ignorant, it was such a naive thought that I wouldn't go to war until the 4th Great Shinobi War. In a world that thrives on the violence and bloodshed it was bound to happen and being faced with it now, it's terrifying.

"Tensions rein high between large and small villages alike, there are often smaller wars being fought that never escalate past a skirmish." Shikamaru drawled, god the genius knew everything. I guess in his training as the next Jounin Commander he was bound to learn all of the secrets none of us ninja were given until it was pertinent for us to know. It made sense though, it was kind of stupid to think that the only wars Konoha was involved in were large and grandiose. We probably didn't learn of the smaller ones in class because they were always taken out before the smaller villages could fight back.

"Shikamaru is right. To finish this war before it blows up further I am sending you out as the cavalry for those already fighting." We all nodded, the high from hanging out last night was gone and a somber aura took over all of us bar Suigetsu who looked itching to fight. "Team 7 and Team 8 you will be going together to backup Shizune's team who are fighting on the inner areas of Kōrigakure. Provide the necessary reinforcements and heal as many as you can. Crush their forces from the inside, Hinata you will take point." Iruka's disdain was crystal clear now, he was against sending us, his students the kids he still sees as children, to war.

Naruto was so kind, Iruka knows war will hurt him, it will be the factor to decide if Naruto will thrive and become Hokage or break from the hurt of the slaughter. This isn't Naruto fighting for the world against the Akatsuki, this is him being a regular (OP) ninja of Konoha where he kills people he doesn't know and kills those who fight for the same things we do, they just happen to be against our village. When Kuruma did a partial takeover and Naruto had his first kills, he was so distraught after, I don't know how this war will affect his psyche.

"Yes Master. We won't fail you." Honestly, I don't know how a war, a real non world ending war, will affect all of us.

"Team 9 and Team 10 you will be back up for the former Akatsuki duo's Hidan and Kakuzu as well as Sasori and Deidara who are fighting to keep the waves of ninja from making it out of their village. Make sure they stay loyal to our village and heal as many as you can. Let nobody escape, Shikamaru you will take point, Neji you are backup commander." Shikamaru's shoulders slumped, sighing at his position. He muttered a troublesome before straightening back up, his resolve solidified.

"Yes Lady Tsunade." Iruka handed Shikamaru and I each a scroll, his smile strained and his eyes sad. Neji looked over to me, he believed his job was to protect me and for us to go to the same war and being forced to separate was hard to swallow. I was still his baby sister, the main family member he was charged with protecting. No matter what, I have to live so they don't activate his seal for failing to save me.

"These scrolls have the details of your job and what you will be up against. Study it thoroughly, all of you. Do not be hasty or rash, their numbers will vastly outnumber yours so think, be smart, and use your strengths. Make plans but expect them to fail, just…make sure you don't die out there."

"We will travel together for the first 5 days until we reach here…about 86 kilometers from the border of the battlefield." Shikamaru placed a finger on a marked point on the map. "Then we'll split up, my squad will enter directly into the village, creating a racket too keep the attention off of Hinata's squad and to alert the Akatsuki of our arrival." His team nodded, Lee making a promise to arrive there and make the biggest show he was capable of. The lazy genius looked up to me and I turned to my squad making sure they were looking (well making sure Naruto and Kiba were paying attention at least). It was early as hell but we needed to leave as soon as the sun was risen over the horizon.

"We will be going around through to the back of the village…right about here." I pointed to a plane of icy hills that we were planning to sneak through. "And from there we will travel into the village and head straight for its heart. There is where we will hopefully meet up with Shizune's squad." Sasuke activated his Sharingan, easily engraving the map into his memory to make our movements that much easier. "We will go over what we are going to be up against when we set up camp tonight."

"Move out. Formation Beta." Shikamaru called out and we all got into position, shooting off at a relatively quick pace from the village. We traveled through the southwest area of the land of fire until we were reaching the edge. After over a full day's travel, there was less than 40 kilometers between us and the border of The Land of Fire and we bunkered down to rest. Naruto set up barrier seals and we cooked fish, needing to replenish our energy for another long stretch of travel.

I had my sleeping bag set up and was sandwiched between Neji and Kiba who blocked off anyone else from sleeping beside me…both going into big brother and protective best friend mode. No boys allowed. None of us missed the closeness between Lee and Tenten's bags and the lack of her smacking him for being overzealous…they're cute. I opened the scroll to assess what we were up against. Honestly I couldn't believe what I was reading.

"Team Hinata, take a look and tell me what you think." My team read over the scroll and varying stages of disbelief took everyone's features.

"Shit man, is this for real?" Kiba's slitted eyes met with mine, he was just as shocked as I was. There was that spark of feral excitement though, he was slightly excited to test his skills against our…interesting opponents.

"No, we were given a scroll with fake information to go to war with." Shino spoke so dry, he had no intonation but the sarcasm dripping off of him was amusing. I could always count on him to keep Kiba, and his massive mouth, in check. The description of the battleground was something I didn't expect in the slightest. Basically, the area Tsunade is sending us is filled with Kōrigakure's specialist: mechanic shinobi.

If the details are accurate, we are going to be fighting against, not only a mass of shinobi and robot people, we are going up against a more technological sound village with giant chakra powered…Transformer's? I don't know any other way to describe the things.

They have technological warfare on their side and that, pared with all of their ninja joining the fight, has been the main factors in creating such an issue for Konoha in the war. Not only that, they are pulling a Russia, letting us come to them and freeze our asses off in the frozen and barren climate. It's not called the Village Hidden in Ice for nothing. Everyone on our side looked slightly relieved, with fighting against technology, most likely we will have to kill less than Shikamaru's squad will be required to do.

"We're going to kick robot ass 'ttebayo!" Naruto grinned, his eyes blazing with a furious determination to end this war. Kiba held his hand up and they slapped hands, making it echo slightly.

"Hell yeah we are, right Akamaru?" He gave a fanged grin to the pup, getting a yip and lick of assurance in return. I rubbed behind Akamaru's ears, the soft pleased growl and fluffiness of his fur was calming.

"Hn. What's the plan, if their advancements are true, going undetected will be relatively impossible?" Sasuke's dark eyes were calculating as he thought over the battle. He was thinking over something, stuck on trying to find a solution to a problem he hasn't even vocalized. Whatever it is, it's going to be conducive to our success.

"Then we fight. Our plan is to find our allies as soon as possible but now we need to go in with the expectation of being seen. We will fight streamlined, break through a single path straight to where Shizune said her location was stationed last. As for taking down the metal beasts, It says hard enough force will crush them, find the weak points of them and they will be useless. Naru, can you alter some of your paper bombs to make the seal more like a compression?"

"Eh? Compression seals?" Sasuke shot him an exasperated look, leave it to Naruto to not know what compression was.

"It would be like the force of your gravity seal but amplified. Ok put it this way, if you squeeze a can hard enough what happens?"

"It crushes in on itself….Wait, that's genius 'ttebayo! If I mix the force of a paper bomb with the inverse affects of gravity seal it'll crush them!" He was grinning widely, his mind whirring with the possibilities.

"Apply that to the joints and they go down." Naruto opened a scroll and lay out a pile of seals, getting to work on re-formulating to try and create the compression seals. "Kiba, you and Akamaru have enough spin force to bust through almost anything, using that you should be able to total some of the larger weapons. Just make sure they don't catch you in a predictable attack pattern, I'm guessing these robots can process faster than most human minds and if they find you moving in a pattern they will stop you."

"Got it! Those bastards won't catch us." His fangs were sharp and ready to rip an opponent to shreds, Kiba was wild but that was to his benefit for opponents like we're going to face.

"Sasuke, you're stupid fast and those ground troops seem to have insane speed as well. They are fast but I bet your eyes are faster so while they take down the big stuff, you are going to be taking down the little speed demons. They have overwhelming numbers but you have the largest arsenal of jutsu to take them out and with Naruto watching your back, you two will have the least chance of being overwhelmed."

"Hn." Sasuke was extremely pleased with my compliment. Naruto and I were both worried that after Danzo died Sasuke would feel like he had no point in life, his eyes still sometimes went blank and lifeless but he was still the same smug asshole Sasuke, just a bit less set on what his future goals were going to be.

"Shino, you and I are fighting against the living. Your Kikaichu are the best at eating through a persons chakra, take that away and the robots will no longer have someone to add more when it runs out. They are also not mindless robots and seem to definitely be strong but you're smart and sly. You stay more levelheaded and will have the least issue with doing what needs to be done. With us teaming up to defeat the brains behind the scrap-metal, we should be able to crush them completely."

"Of course, I do not like killing but it is necessary. I will not be defeated, why my Kikaichu will keep my chakra full and I will not lose another teammate of mine."

"Awe man, why'd you gotta go and bring that up?" Kiba whined, his eyes saddening slightly in remembrance of their fallen teammate. Shino hummed in response and Kiba seemed to understand what his thoughts were. A tanned, sharp clawed hand gripped around Shino's, they shared in their grief and determination together. They would not fail one another.

"I will fight with Shino and wherever else needed. I also have to make sure everyone is in fighting condition, I will heal who I can after we make it to the base camp. With the addition Shizune and whoever else is already fighting, we will have more allies to win this damned thing. This wont be easy, it will be bloody and we're all probably going to be fucked in the head when this is over but I believe in all of you, I believe in Shikamaru's team as well. We will win this and stop this war for good."

We spent a little while longer, until the sky was lit only with the glow of the moon, going over plans and re-assessing our skills to one another. Naruto and Sasuke both liked to talk themselves up but if their skills were even half of what they said, they are damn close to already making themselves the most powerful Shinobi in all of history.

For guard duty, we decided everyone would work in two person teams, each set needed a sensor keeping watch. Shino and Lee were taking the first shift, Neji and Tenten, and last was going to be Kiba and Sasuke. The next night Naruto and Choji were first, Shikamaru and I were slated for the graveyard shift. Ino would finish off the shift with whoever pulled the short straw. We would repeat this until it was time to split up and go off to battle.

Six days of travel, we were finally nearing the war-zone outside of the snow country. It was obvious by the drastic drop in temperature and the mountain landscape covered in white. Everyone was dressed in winter gear now. When Tsume found out about our leaving, she gave me her thickest coat, the fur lined jacket was insulated and kept me warmer than anything the Hyuga clan had. Plus it smelled like her and it was a good, comforting smell.

Anko, with her growing motherly instincts, gave me her old ANBU gear for when she would travel to areas like this, the gloves, hat, and leggings were chakra infused to keep my body warm. I looked like a marshmallow but felt warm against the frigid cold. Only my eyes, cheeks, and nose were exposed, the skin was flushed pink from the biting weather. Everyone else looked much the same, fighting in such bulky clothes should be harder, but with the lightweight thermal gear it was not as constricting and I believed it would be.

Night was the worst, being cold while sleeping was one thing but being close to hypothermia was another. Naruto, bless Kuruma inside of him, ran extremely hot so he was like our mini heater and we'd all take turns to curl around him at night for some of his body heat to keep us warm.

Tonight was our last night as a full group, tomorrow would be when we split up and finally enter the war, tensions were running high for all of us. Ino, Tenten, and I were together right now saying our farewells and just getting some much needed girl time before leaving.

"Just be safe ok, I love you and when this is over, we're going out for sure. Watch out for the boys, we all know that can't take care of themselves so that's on you guys. Ten, make sure Lee doesn't open his gates unless it is absolutely last resort and please don't let Neji-nii take on more than he can. You know his skills better than anyone else, don't let him overwork himself even if he thinks he can do more."

"Of course, I won't let them kill themselves." I curled into Tenten's side, she was patting my head as we talked. As the oldest, by a year, she was usually the most mature and was so warm and loving even if she was a badass weapons mistress. She always managed to make me feel more calm and I loved her dearly even when we haven't gotten to spend much time together in the last few years.

"Ino, I know you'll protect them, you are leader even if Shika makes all the plans so, just keep them safe. Don't let Choji's sweet heart be his downfall, it will be hard but at this point it's us or them. Same with Shika, if something goes awry, don't let him fall into blaming himself."

"Duh, who do you think I am?" Ino smiled wryly, it was tense but she was right, she wouldn't let them do something stupid. "Ok, enough of this sappy crap. Time to play a game before all hell breaks loose." Tenten and I exchanged wary glances, Ino's games were either great or horribly embarrassing, no in-between.

"What game?" Tenten asked, her chocolatey eyes narrowed in suspicion. I looked the exact same as we looked at the blonde.

"Fuck, Marry, or Kill." I huffed out a laugh, this would be interesting. Ino was pleased with my reaction, her ability to read a situation and her understanding of the psyche, she was perfect at getting people to feel what she needed them to. That made calming down a situation, or riling it up, that much easier for her.

"I've got one!" I grinned. "Izumo, Kotetsu, and Iruka-sensei."

"Fuck Izumo-kun, he's hot and seems like he'd be good in bed. Marry Iruka-sensei, that man is the most caring adult I've ever met and would be a great husband. Kill Kotetsu-kun, he's a bit too childish for my taste so he's gotta go." Ino needed no time to formulate her answers and spouted off her reasoning with ease. I agreed with her reasoning though, Iruka will be the best husband whenever he gets married. I laughed at the idea of her marrying her academy sensei, he raised us when we were such little shits.

"I'd switch Kotetsu-san with Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san is so exciting he seems like he'd have good stamina and make things super fast and fun." Tenten responded, a bit more reluctant with answering but deciding against caring either way. It's not like they would ever find out about this. We were all smiling after a few rounds this was the perfect way to get our minds off of tomorrow.

"Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, and Asuma-sensei." Tenten looked very pleased at her choices for us.

"Fuck Kakashi-sensei, he's got a nice ass and is always reading porn so he's gotta be good. Marry Asuma-sensei, the way he is with Kurneai-sensei and his unborn child means he's going to be a good husband and father. Kill Gai-sensei, the dude wears _green_ spandex…for fun."

"Ino it sounds like you have a thing with wanting to marry one of your sensei's." Tenten snickered and Ino looked away to where the boys were sitting. Her face softened to a lovestruck smile.

"Nope, I'm going to marry Choji-kun." her blue eyes shifted to me. "Your turn." I laughed at the thought of my choices.

"Fuck Gai-sensei. There is no way he doesn't have insane stamina and he seems like the type to cherish you the whole time." Tenten paled, her mind going to her sensei in that way and she shivered. Though, she seemed happy I still thought so highly of her awesome teacher. "Marry Kakashi-sensei. He's a loner but he is so hot and he has puppies, I love his dogs and they love me. He's also pretty caring in an awkward way so I think he wouldn't be the worst husband. Kill Asuma-sensei, I couldn't think of marrying him when he has Kurneai-sensei, not even in fantasy."

"You're a freak Hinata. You chose Gai, the man would probably start crying as soon as you started." Ino deadpanned at me, my choice of Gai and reasoning made her re-think my sanity. I mean, he's nice. A lot dorky, but Gai is awesome.

"Probably." I shrugged uncaring and we all busted into fits of giggles.

"Ok ok, how about… Lady Tsunade, Anko, and Fū-san." Tenten and I both 'oohed' at Ino's choices, this was a hard one. I thought about it for a second before breaking out into the biggest shit-eating grin.

"Fuck Anko, her sensei was Orochimaru and she's with Zabuza-sempai, she's gotta be a freak. Marry Lady Tsunade, her boobs could smother me and would make great pillows to sleep on every night. Kill Fū, she's drop dead gorgeous but I don't know her well enough yet."

"You are such a freak, my god. Why are we even friends?" Ino was hiding a smile as her eyes stared at me like I was insane.

"You love me Ino." I blew her a kiss and Tenten and I laughed as she waved it away like I was going to give her germs.

"I guess I'd do it with Fū-san, her hair is pretty and she seems like it would be fun. I'd marry Lady Tsunade, she's the coolest and yeah, she'd make a great sleeping buddy each night. Kill Anko-san because she's scary and she uses _snakes_. That's a big no." Ino nodded in agreement with Tenten, neither of them were fond of snakes. I shouldn't be but they are still cute little creatures even if they had a bad summoner for a while.

We played for a bit longer, getting more personal with people we knew but by the end, we were all crying laughing at our reasoning and responses for everything. We settled down into our sleeping bags when it was too cold to even try to do anything more. Shikamaru took one side of me and Ino took the other, we were all pressed together trying to conserve body heat with the inability to light a fire and give away our location.

The morning was tough, we packed everything up and went over our plans one more time before readying ourselves to split up and depart.

"Bye Neji-nii." I smiled at him and he placed a hand on my head, holding me to him. "Be safe focus all your energy onto winning and surviving, don't worry about me, I'll be fine." The war Neji was in, he died. That wasn't going to happen again, hopefully without me being there he will be fine and can put all of his focus on himself and not me. I can't even let myself think he'd meet the same fate in canon, this is not the same war so he'll be fine. He has to be fine, he's Neji the prodigy of our clan.

"Goodbye Hinata-hime, be safe. You are strong, I do not believe it will be your fate to die in this war. I will be there as soon as this is over to take you home." Him and his fate stuff, even toned down, it is still there. Maybe Zabuza needs to insult it out of him again. Neji placed a kiss to the crown of my head and left to go be with Lee and Tenten.

"Hinata." Shikamaru's deep drawl was so unmistakably him and I turned at the call. He was standing there, face bored but eyes sharper than ever. He pulled one hand out of his pocket and I ran into his arms, burying my face into him. "This is going to be a drag…You ready?" He mumbled and I nodded. "Do what you need to do to win, don't play hero, and don't die. It'll be too troublesome if we lose you because then I'd have to get revenge, Ino would cry, and my mom would be so sad so don't be stupid." I rolled my eyes and let out a hoarse laugh.

"I'm sorry that my death would be so troublesome for you." He sighed in response. "You too, don't die out there, I'd cry. You can't die ok? You're smart and you have a lot of power on your side so survive and make sure nobody else dies. You are a good leader, I believe in you." We pulled away and I was instantly colder. My face hardened and I commanded my team into position, us waving one more time before rushing away from one another.

We could hear the war before we could see it. Bombs and explosions were going off, the sound waves echoing to our position. I was stationed at the back of our platoon, my Byakugan constantly monitoring 360 around us. I finally saw the battlefield but from my position, there were hardly any chakra signatures in the vicinity.

We came in though the back, reaching a half day after Shikamaru's platoon did. That meant a lot of the action going on in this area was refocused to that area, giving us at least a bit more time to push to the center of the village before getting noticed. The houses in this area were abandoned, evacuated. There were a few dead, Konoha shinobi. They were frozen over from the cold. They weren't dressed in attire suited for this climate. Sasuke burned them and we never looked back.

"Naruto, Kiba clear a path! Sasuke, Shino make sure nobody can hit us from the sides! Save your chakra, they are only assessing our skills!" I screamed out orders, our group of 5 moving like a well oiled machine as we made our way to where Shizune's bunker was held. We were noticed about a kilometer into entering the village. Small, humanoid robots descended on our position and we were fighting through them.

They were the weaker level, just used to gage our strength. The were like Sasori's puppets had a love child with i-robot. They were not able to break us off path and we continued moving straight towards Shizune. I slammed my fist into the icy tundra floor, releasing my chakra on impact. The ground being frozen gave me an advantage because there was less absorption when I cratered the earth. The ground shook and splintered out before collapsing and eroding, sending the bots off balance and taking them out. It also made so that it would be that much harder to come at us from behind.

A bot sliced a Tantō down in my direction, I brought my own to counter and forced my chakra into it's weak point. My Byakugan could see the chakra flow so finding the point where the chakra was strongest was easy. That point was where it's controls were located, different on each, and when that busted the whole thing shut down.

A burst of chakra to my left, Naruto activated a seal and bots were sucked into it, disappearing into nothingness. Shino swarmed the bots with his bugs, they entered through all the openings and ruined the bots from the inside out. Sasuke plunged his Katana into a bot, lightning running through the blade so it cut through the metal like butter. Akamaru would pounce, his size pinning a bot while Kiba shredded through them with his claws.

Within an hour, we were close to the real battlefield. Kiba gagged, Akamaru whined, Naruto covered his nose. There were bodies strewn around us, some from Konoha, some robotic limbs and ninja dressed in the Kōri, ninja attire. There was blood frozen to the ground, weapons and holes littering the floor. It looked like an ambush, Konoha had the upper hand but something went wrong, there were craters like that of the ground just disappearing, scorch marks around the holes. The more inward we moved, the stronger the stench of death became, the stronger the chakra surrounding me was, the more we were attacked, the more buildings popped up.

"Sasuke, where are we?" My eyes burned, I shut them off for a bit to make sure I would be able to use them when we reached the real battles. The ground shook in the distance, we were close. The attacks on us were harsher now, larger weapons, stronger robots, some even had access to Justu. They were all under the control of their masters chakra but they didn't need to be with them, it was impressive and terrifying on how much more advanced they became. Like waves of a video game.

"Change direction to 3:00." We shifted our course slightly and pushed forward, my lungs were tight, my legs were screaming, we all were breathing heavier now. Naruto slammed his fist into a bot, the brass knuckles denting the skull and making it stumble just long enough for his other hand to grab it, pulling the head clean off.

My senses burned, a different chakra entered and it was inhuman, something I'd never felt before. Sasuke shot his head the direction I felt if from.

"Fuck, move!" he commanded, and moved forward faster than before. We all followed suit, augmenting chakra into my muscles to propel me forward. Right after that, a bright light, infused with chakra hit where we were once standing. The ground was gone, where the beam hit, scorch marks marring the now thawed tundra surrounding the hit. A blast of heat hit my face and my gut clenched. They have lasers activated with chakra. What the fuck.

I activated my Byakugan once more, looking the direction the beam came from. There was a smaller version of an AT-AT like thing, building up chakra that matched the last laser beam. There was a chakra inside the machine, its handler. The reports weren't kidding with this village being the most technologically advanced.

"We take this out first." I moved, heading right towards the thing. The uneven, rocky terrain made it so it was impossible to see until we made it over the peak. Just behind the vehicle, the war was raging. There were Konoha shinobi fighting against waves of robots and Kōri shinobi. it was horrific to see, there were comrades and enemies alike being struck down, others already dead. I'd never seen something so horrible.

I imagined it to be everyone together at the same area but with a quick scope, there were people scattered throughout the lands, one small group fighting against the larger numbers of Kōri weaponry. It wasn't all people together, fighting against one another one side versus the other, war was everywhere, surrounding everything. There was no clear left versus right, just one person battling what seemed like 50 others, everyone split and spread.

The screams were audible, a sound I'd never be able to forget. I could see and hear the sound of metal again metal, everywhere felt unsafe, dangerous. The Kōri Shinobi were pale, fitting the chill of their land. They fought violently, attacking with high tech, chakra weapons I had never seen. We didn't have much time to take in the scene, to accept that this was war, to make a plan, we just had to go. The laser was aiming for us once more, getting closer to firing.

"Shino, plug up the laser, Kiba I'll take it off balance and you drill it to the ground." Shino's bugs moved in a swarm, surrounding the laser and filling the cannon hole, eating away at the chakra as fast as it was being produced. I jumped from the top of the hill, aiming downward at the ground surrounding the weapon. I swung my heel down in an axe kick, slamming it on top of a shinobi who was fighting.

He went down, his body crushed beneath my force, the ground following suit, chunks of ground ebbing away and smashing around me. Kiba followed right behind the attack, right as the Laser weapon swayed to the left from my impact, he and Akamaru drilled into it, it went down, the insides being shredded with the _Fang Over Fang_ technique.

"Fry the bastard inside!" Sasuke released a large electric field, covering the conductive metal in its entirety. The man inside screamed, his chakra flared in pain before it was gone. An arrow entered the field of vision behind me, I turned and caught it, the tip slightly slicing my finger but nothing more. The man looked stunned, he was aiming for what would normally be a blind spot. I was on him in an instant, stabbing the arrow into his chest, he spluttered, blood foaming past his lips. A set of mid-ranged robots went down, their chakra provider was dead and so were they.

Sasuke made quick work of those who went down before another could activate them. My platoon stayed within the range of one another but fought our own opponents and to protect our outnumbered comrades. Blonde clones were everywhere, placing tags or acting as a shield to protect someone from death by kunai. Kōri nin were yelling about taking out the blonde, there was so many of him doing so much damage.

There were 8 surrounding me as I rushed to find the dwindling chakra of a Konoha chunin. He was clutching his leg, or what used to be one. It was shredded and burned, blood flowing out of the wound. It was Yato, a boy a few years my senior.

"I'm going to cut the rest of this off and seal the skin, then you'll get on my back and direct me towards the barracks." I spoke calm, trying to keep the crying man—boy calm. His friend, Hanatara who was in Neji's class at the academy, was lying beside him, eyes glazed over and frozen open even after death. I surrounded my hand with chakra, cutting his leftover flesh off with a chakra scalpel was easier than a kunai.

"No, no _please_. Just let me die. _Please, _let me go with Hanatara!" He gripped my shoulders, pleading with his eyes. They were dark and dull, lifeless.

"Let me heal you, find a reason to live." Another clone popped behind me, I laid him back, ready to work but had to stop when a wave of kunai entered my chakra field. Before they could reach, a clone sent a _Great Breakthrough_ and the kunai clattered uselessly to the side. The clone popped and I sent a small _Water Bullet_ to the robot, crushing through his core.

A fireball shot beside me, burning into a shinobi who screamed and wailed until he went down. I turned back to Yato, he did it, but my heart dropped. He had plunged a kunai into his heart, he took one out with him but decided to die either way. Is this what war reduces people to?

I scrambled back to stand up after the force of an earth pillar jutsu slammed into my side, sending me sprawling to the ground. Another one followed, this one with spikes. I dodged, flexibly contorting my body to avoid the array of spikes and pillars aiming for my head. One tore through the cloth and netting of my calf, slicing into the skin. It wasn't too deep but it hurt like a bitch, I could feel the hot blood oozing from my calf.

"Die like your comrades, Konoha filth." The woman spat at me, gesturing to Yato. He was pierced with one of her pillars, hanging limply in the air. He was dead and she still stabbed him through like he was nothing. I attacked her, she was fast but I was faster. Her leg aimed high at my temple, I ducked, having to roll as she twisted to bring a Kunai where I had ducked.

Each Tenketsu on her body seemed to glow brighter than before. I shifted my balance, lowered my stance and attacked. Her arm pressed to the ground so she could spin and aim another kick, I stalked forward, jabbing, forcing my chakra into her body to stop the flow of chakra to her leg.

She growled in pain, cursing at me, readying another earth justu. It was obvious in the dirty coolness of her chakra what she was going. I moved before she completed her sequence, striking her arms, rendering them useless. Her cry brought another to fight, he had a long curved blade and swung, I shoved her into the line of fire, her blood sprayed in an arc as the sword cleaved her body in half.

"Kayama!" He shouted for her. I wasted no time, I picked her lower half up, throwing it so he'd move. That left him open and my palm slammed into his chest, Instead of blocking the coils here, I forced more chakra than he could handle to flow into the Tenketsu. The coils around his heart burst, and his heart ruptured.

Shino was beside me again, his trench coat had blood on it, his hair was matted as well. There was a rip in the arm of his coat but no blood, there were no wounds on him and his chakra was full. Flowing through him steadily as the Kikaichu buzzed beneath his skin. I probably looked the same. We pushed forward, no time to think about what we were doing, no time to regret anything.

The bug user fought in a way that nobody noticed him until it was too late. The best part of him being seemingly invisible was he was written off or forgotten and that made it so he could have set his bugs on them before they knew he was there. Shino was cool and collected the entire time, any cut or taunt was ignored as he took out people one by one. His bugs were like a cloud of death, sucking the chakra from the surroundings without a way to neutralize them.

Shino was good, he was scary good at what he did. He could be beside a person and kill them without the person realizing it, he killed with ease, not from not caring but from his practice and training as an Aburame. His temperament was so calm it was scary to those he was against, it was a deadly calm, one that comes from him knowing he was going to win.

Off in the distance, Naruto was moving away, being driven back by a mass of weaponized metal. There were so many of them, large and small attacking him. A shout, the numbers were evened out with clones. It was a blonde hurricane. He placed a seal tag on one of the Robots that continuously spewed out fire. It glowed with the blue of his chakra before the metal collapsed in on itself, crushed from the seal.

Another seal placed by a clone launched a mass of ground and robot into the sky. Naruto attacked with a variant of the _Wind Cutter_ jutsu, it was more violent, stronger and shredded everything being forced to hover in the sky. Clones attacked with Rasengan, some landing their mark and others being destroyed before they even had a chance.

Even when something or someone came close to him, he was ready to fight. Naruto was a brawler. He was strong his movements unpredictable. He never seemed to tire, he was an abundance of stamina that close or far away he was better than who he fought. He had cuts here and there but that stopped nothing. He was fiercely amazing, his determination to protect his comrades after seeing so many died made him that much more dangerous. Naruto was a force, an army all on his own.

Sasuke had his sword drawn, cutting through those made of weaker alloy and using variants of chidori to destroy those that were stronger. Fire flew from his mouth sometimes, blazing the ground and burning what stood in his path. His eyes were glowing red, each attack against him consisted of waves of fast foot soldiers, all of which he was able to assess and avoid accordingly. He slashed with deadly grace, Zabuza's ferocious strength with a sword was obvious in Sasuke, but he had his own style.

Sasuke attacked with Kunai and Shuriken, tying ninja wire to the weapons and electrifying it to make them slice through stronger metal. There were scratches to his skin, the numbers of the enemy allowed them to get hits in but none were fatal or hindered Sasuke from working. A sword impaled into his shoulder and Sasuke cauterized the wound by burning it closed, not even taking a glance to the injury.

Sasuke used his snakes as well, they slithered and constricted around whatever they could find, crushing the enemies until they were scrap metal. He was deadly, graceful, beautiful, and ferocious as he fought. Nothing slipped his sights, he was Sasuke, a warrior; An Uchiha, a Shinobi and he was not going to lose.

Kiba and Akamaru were different than Naruto and Sasuke, they weren't slated to be the strongest and didn't have the reserves to do it but they were a force, a game changer all on their own. Together Kiba and Akamaru fought with a perfect, feral synchronistic, attacking and defending one another from all angles. Their insane sense of smell gave them an advantage. A large stationary Tank shot off a gas that blocked all light. The enemies they were facing didn't have eyes, only fought with chakra but that did nothing.

Kiba could smell them and together he and Akamaru shredded them to pieces before the smoke was even fully cleared. Akamaru was hit, punched by one of the large bots and let out a whimper. That set Kiba off, he moved fast, feral, animalistic as he struck the thing down. They combined and a few of the large weaponized catapults were destroyed by a singe attack from Kiba and Akamaru. They drilled into large metal, shredding through it in a way that should have been impossible. They were strong and wild and hard to track even for robots.

We were death walking, we were the cavalry and none of us were going to lose this war.

**Warning: Some gore I guess? It's a war people bleed**

Shikamaru knew what to expect of a war before actually going to one. His father had made him go over document after document relating to previous wars. He had to pick and choose strategies for the best outcome. War was violent, emotional, sometimes people lost sight of why they were fighting, people die.

He knew all of that but what he didn't know was how the air would reek of blood and ash, the screams that echoed every so often, the chaotic mess that would be war. Knowing about war was not the same as experiencing that, it was sobering. He turned to his team, all looking over the battlefield like he did.

He positioned them just outside the range of the best sensor so that they could make their entrance. It had to be big, bold and draw attention to them. It was to draw the attention of the enemies to hopefully keep them away from when my team would enter the village. It was also to alert the allies of their arrival, so they could group together, strength in numbers and all that jazz.

"They said make an entrance right? Might as well do some damage in the process." His lips curled into a smirk, it wasn't a happy one but it was there. He handed each person on his squad an explosive tag, it was one Naruto and he had worked on for weeks. The explosions were massive, bigger than a regular tag but not only that, the fire and smoke the explosions let off were colored brightly. Perfect for doing damage and drawing attention to themselves.

A tag like this was cocky, it was meant to anger the enemies making whoever uses it seem like they think so little of their proponents they would set off a location marker. It was pompous and effective against the fragile ego of Shinobi, especially those who feel like they have to fight to prove their worth.

"Yosh, let the skies light up in a youthful array of color!" Spaced far enough apart, each member of his platoon threw the kunai with their tag out into the open. The explosions went off, lighting up the frigid air with heat and color, destroying the ground in loud bang. Not a minute later, ninja of all caliber descended on their position.

They moved like Zombies, snarling at the arrival of more Konoha ninja, shouting that they were bastards and the like. With one nod, both teams went off fighting the ninja who never seemed to keep coming. Like the enemies came, their comrades in arms came as well.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji fought together, working like the perfectly suited team they were. Choji had his first official kill almost too soon in the war. Ino had moved to heal one of their allies when she was attacked, Choji defended her, killing the man with his brute strength. The kindhearted boy puked, his heart clenching at taking a life.

It didn't matter, he had no time to grieve because he had to keep fighting. Shikamaru wanted to say something but he couldn't, not yet. He had to compartmentalize, push away the feeling of dread with each life taken. He was a ninja, he was trained to kill.

Neji and lee were like oil and water, one used the strong fist and the other the gentle fist and yet they were perfect to fight together. Combining their close combat with the skill and agility of Tenten, they took down enemies close and far. Lee shook when he killed but his resolve, his reason for fighting for his village outweighed his guilt.

Tenten attacked with a fierce strength, anytime a weapon was sent to her or her comrades, she had the perfect counter. This was her specialty, her excellence. She used any and every weapon perfectly and made the others using their weapons, especially the projectile kind, useless.

These ninja were fast, good but they were nothing compared to Gai-sensei. They had their numbers going for them. The only way to win was overwhelming Neji's team with sheer numbers and forcing them to run out of chakra, nothing else would make it possible.

Everyone was dead tired, bleeding from superficial wounds, fighting to survive and push through, following Shikamaru's orders perfectly. It was becoming too much, no matter what they didn't have the reserves of someone like Naruto. Even with the chakra pills, the number of shinobi throwing weapons and jutsu, skilled and not were becoming too much.

They had all seen people die during their battle, heard the cries of men and women being struck down and they were prepared to fight until their last breath. Shikamaru unleased a torrent of water from a seal, bringing it to life with a lightning seal not a second later. It fried all it touched but was not enough. He was ready to go down when the air seemed to shift.

A kunai was heading for Ino's head, one she'd be too slow to dodge and Choji was too far away to deflect it. She closed her eyes, only to open them when instead of death a groan greeted her.

"Jashin fuckin' dammit, that hurt like a bitch ya know? What kind of heathen are you, thinking you can stab me in the chest." Hidan was crass, kind of scary, the way he was dripping in blood yet seeming to love it was repugnant but Ino had never been more glad to see him. The kunai pierced his chest, it should have been fatal but he pulled it out with nothing more than a wince.

A woman's head exploded near them, others following soon after. A loud laugh screaming about art echoed from above. Deidara was there too. Sasori and Kakuzu also made it to them, fighting with a vicious brutality and love for battle that none of them could understand, they used jutsu that amazed and scared everyone equally. They fought like monsters, like demons. Hidan cackling all the way through. It was vile but at the moment Shikamaru's platoon appreciated it more than words could express.

The tides for his team changed, the Akatsuki were not bullshitting when they said they were strong, maybe strength equalled insanity but nobody dared to care at this point. Even if Hidan and Neji wanted to stab one another, the Jashinist took a blow meant for the Hyuga.

"Couldn't let the Hot Bitch cry if her _Neji-nii_ died. Gotta get those brownie points for saving your girly ass."

With the newfound courage—and soldier pills— the ex-criminals brought, they were able to continue fighting as well as get in some rest. Ino fought and healed as many as she could, guarded by everyone around her to keep their allies alive. She was invaluable in her ability to mentally contact everyone for plans as well as her healing.

Our battle was a chaotic hurricane of destruction. We had all found one another again, looking worse for wear but still alive. There were a few Chunin and Jounin who joined our movement, they were directing us to the barracks that had been set up. We all took soldier pills and guarded as each of us got a fill of water, a necessity to survival. I wasn't sure about how long we'd been fighting, it could have been an hour or a few days. Like Alaska, during certain seasons the sun never set in Kōri so night might have passed and I'd never know.

"Kiba-kun?" Shino questioned his unusually solemn mate. Kiba had blood covering his hands, and smears over the already bright red of his cheeks. I was ready to heal him when he pushed me away.

"I'm fine." He grimaced. "It's not my blood." Oh. I healed the cuts and bruises on everyone as we moved, Naruto had clones stationed to make sure I'd have time to help each person and not get stabbed. I was exhausted, we were all exhausted but had to press on. On our way to help, we had a few hours to sleep.

It was difficult, My sleep was shallow at best. Even in sleep my senses were on high alert, my chakra was always scanning and rolling ready to fight if it came up. It was like how sensitive I felt when Orochimaru came to the Chunin exams but amplified. Everyone was feeling the same, those out to war longer than us were even more anxious.

I let myself relax, even if just slightly when we moved forward. There were signs of Shizune's battle here, we were getting closer. Men and women lay dead, plunged with senbon the poison used by Shizune alone was frozen to them. Their veins were black and their skin blistering, definitely her fast acting venom she was able to spew out of her mouth and into the air.

There were enemies everywhere, we were still fighting our way thorough this place. They kept getting stronger the more we advanced.

Konoha ninja fought around us, fighting with strength and heart encompassing the will of fire. No chakra I knew well enough had entered my field of vision until a giant wave of water crashed down.

That chakra, that overwhelmingly powerful chakra was one I knew well. I darted off towards the wave that crushed enemies beneath its force, running atop the surface of the water easily. There. I found Kisame swinging Samehada, the skin was unleashed as it shredded through the chakra infused metal. Suigetsu was not too much further away, lightning running through his blades and attacking those around him with vigor.

The air was so cold Suigetsu was forced to dodge a lot more often than normal. If he shifted into water too often he would freeze from the below freezing temperature. I was attacked on all sides, ice formed under my feet, one of the weapons was able to shoot out ice apparently, and I wasn't ready to stick to the surface with my chakra so I slid, my momentum pushing me backwards.

A robot descended on me and slammed he hard into the ground. The breath was pushed from my lungs. Its face heated up and I slammed my fist into its head, the heat of the chakra being converted into something hot burned through the glove and skin of my right hand.

"Fuck off you shitty Ultron knockoff." Kisame hefted me back to a standing position, grinning down at me. My knees were shaky but I managed. We were finally in the heart of the battle if the size and skill of what we were facing had anything to say. I had felt outmatched before, overwhelmed by numbers sure, but this, this was different.

Everyone was fighting for something, fighting with a passionate fury that made them that much more dangerous. Combining that with the weaponry I didn't even know existed, a misstep was deadly. I was tired, but so was everyone here, I had to pretend like I was better and fight like I had just gotten here.

"I was wondering when you would join the party little Orokamono." He took note of my expression and calmed slightly even when sending three enemies back with one powerful swing of his sword. "First war?"

"Yes. I just—how do people do this—why." I didn't even know how to explain the feeling that was overwhelming me.

"It doesn't get better 'specially not for a softie like you, just think of it as good training." I rolled my eyes, I didn't have that luxury. I was team leader so they were on me, I had to make sure nobody died and I had to bring aid to Shizune and help heal whoever else was in the barracks.

"I'm not soft." He snorted and went back on the prowl to fight, the cuts and bruises not even bothering him in the slightest. I joined up with Suigetsu, using my smaller size and speed to help him take down the giant, angry man who wielded a high powered crossbow, one that shot arrows that wherever it hit turned to ice. I unsealed a water bottle from the seals painted onto my med pack and tossed it to Suigetsu. He downed the entire thing in a single gulp, his face already looking less pale.

" Man, I love you sometimes." He grinned, his body thrumming from the adrenaline of battle and the new water imposed into his system.

"I know." Suigetsu had the bottom of his pant's leg burned off, there was obvious blistering on his shin all the way up to his knee. He kept his weight more on his right leg to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on the burned limb. The crossbow man, in his dying breath pulsed his chakra, flaring it to surround the area.

The ground shook as a giant version of a shinobi came out of the freaking ground along with many soldiers on his flank. Their killer intent was palpable and they outnumbered us 8 to 1. The giant batted away attacks easily, it needed something equally as big to take it to the ground. Naruto's Rasengan barely dented the surface. It had five chakra's inside of it, each person had to take out one if we wanted to not die.

"There are 5 chakra's, one person per limb. Each of us take one, Suigetsu you keep it occupied. Sasuke, you take on the Kōri-nin."

"Hn." He shot off, Susanoo flaring to life in all of its purple glory as he attacked. It flickered, still no a complete shell yet but it was enough. Jutsu's bounced off of the purple casing and Sasuke shot arrows into the crowd of people, stumbling only when the Susanoo was cracked with the force of the Earth Jutsu's slamming against him.

"Man, how the hell am I supposed to do that, it's MASSIVE!"

"Naru, still got a fire tag?" I shouted across, chakra on my vocal chords making my voice echo in loudness.

"Yeah!"

"Keep Suigetsu warm when I say." He gave me a thumbs up. I focused on the air around me, drawing out the moisture from the ice, from the leftover water Kisame had used, from the moisture in my body. I condensed it into my chest, breathing it in and forcing the water molecules to fuse with my chakra, expanding, making it stronger, larger. I concentrated, as I dodged an attack I made my chakra liquify, take the composition of water.

_Exploding Water Shockwave!_ My chakra drained quickly as water burst from my mouth, creating enough water to fill a small lake. It was easier this time with all the ice around me, Kisame had made me practice this until I didn't black out doing it once. I directed all the water towards Suigetsu and as soon as it touched his skin, I could feel his chakra lacing into the water, absorbing it into his body.

"Hell yeah, now we're talking. Let's see how you can compare to the might of an elite robot freak."

His upper body grew in size, and his lower half took up that of water. He was just barely smaller than that of the giant, his swords raised and ready as he charged the bot, drawing its attention so we would all have a shot at taking out one of the people charging this monstrosity.

"Naruto, keep Suigetsu warm, he can't freeze in this state or we're screwed. Let's take this fucker down." Naruto had his clones place seals on either side of Suigetsu, both sparking to life giant pillars of fire that warmed up the entire area as they burned out, warm enough to keep the water from freezing.

We attacked from behind. Suigetsu used his blades to strike fast and often, the monster forced into defense with each strike. Kiba took the head, drilling into it with impressive speed. Naruto took the left shoulder, Shino the right. Kisame and I took a leg. I spun, slamming my foot into the metal. I could feel the shockwave reverberate through the metal and my body. It was dented but not even close to broken through.

I attacked the alloy with a barrage of kicks and hits until finally it was thin enough to break through. My hand slammed into the metal, coming out the other side of the dented wall, blood dripping from the cuts the metal caused by shredding into my skin. I peeled the metal hole open, making enough room to drag the user out.

He swung a hand and hit my wrist, his chakra burned as it touched my skin. It had that same property of the laser beams from some of the other weapons. It was a kekkei genkai, one that is terrifying if it was in the wrong hand. A blast ht right above my hip, I hissed in pain, biting my tongue to not let out a cry, I'd have to heal it at some point. The guy was probably 13, young. It didn't matter, it couldn't matter. I struck his chest, my gentle fist blocking the points around his heart. He sagged, gurgling blood. I slit his throat.

A strike with lightning charged swords did the job, the ninja were dead and Suigetsu crushed the bot. We all took off once more, fighting for our lives.

There were screams, blood was sprayed, I didn't even realize when I kept making their numbers smaller. Even then, they still outnumbered us, we were in their village and that gave them an advantage. My chakra sensory was on high alert, anyone and everyone that came within a short distance of me I could feel them. I wasn't going to die, nobody was going to die if I had a say in it.

My chakra was becoming low, too low to do any real jutsu without dropping from exhaustion. This was a bad place to be. Most of us were pushing our limits, good or bad. I stumbled as my vision went blurry for a second, my eyes were burning, I could feel the blood pulsing in my eyes as I strained to keep them working. I missed a dodge, my body too slow to react and I received a kunai to the forearm.

Samehada sliced down my opponent and Kisame scooped me into his grasp. He was holding me around the waist and my body was limp, I looked like a sack of potatoes.

"Time to retreat for the night, you need some rest." He dodged an attack, biting into the neck of an opponent and ripping the skin off. Blood oozed from the wound as the man choked in his own blood. It was disgustingly cool.

"I can still fight." I pushed against him and he tightened his hold, using the pressure of his chakra to force me into submission.

"Stand down." He commanded, no hint of the playfulness he usually spoke with. I listened, going lax in his grip once more. Suigetsu was chilling on Kisame's broad shoulder, drinking water and looking ready to drop dead. Kiba and Shino were both in the same state, being carried on Akamaru's back. Sasuke had an arm around Naruto, limping.

Wherever we were, Shizune's squad wasn't here. There were barely any supplies here at all. Konoha Shinobi were nursing wounds or savoring what was left of the ration bars. I slept for a few hours, dreamless thankfully. Somebody wrapped my hands and cleaned the wounds.I ate a ration bar and let my chakra manually regenerate until I needed to go back, when that was, I'd finish the process with a food pill.

Naruto unsealed one of our supply packs, the morbid mood lifted slightly with the rations and replenished resources. Anxiety was still running high, my platoon had heard of war of course, but the toll that it takes is something we never learned. To top it all off, we still hadn't found Shizune's team. They needed us for something and we needed to get to them soon, it's apparently been almost a week already.

I tended to the injured, any superficial injuries that wouldn't have an affect on the person I cleaned and bandaged. A few of the deeper cuts I healed until they were shallow enough to bandage. The lucky break was how anybody who was struck with the lower level lasers, the wound cauterized on its own from the heat of the blast and I just had to treat the burn not the blood loss from it.

There were two amputations, I closed the skin by burning it closed. I didn't have enough chakra to do much else. They were done in the war, there was nothing they could do that wouldn't result in their death. Men died under my hand, I couldn't save them. I'd never been in a situation like this, even saving Itachi was different. Each death hurt, I had no time to mourn, neither did those who lived. I had to be numb, a soldier not a person. Seeing the death toll, it wasn't massive in the scheme of Konoha but it wasn't small either. Maybe about 4% of the total population, about 73% of those who were sent to this war.

My chakra was a little over half and I took a soldier pill to double it, I needed the unnatural boost to keep going and not get stabbed like last night. I dreaded going back out, we all did but we had to fight for our country and for our friends. Sasuke was the one who encouraged us the most, surprisingly, in his Sasuke way of things.

When he riled Naruto up to go back out and fight, that boosted the morale of everyone else.

The icy snow was whipping around everywhere, chilling me to the bone. It stung my face and burned as it whipped into my eyes. I really, really hate snow and this ice version of it is that much worse. Vision was more limited with the weather and moving was harder but nobody let that stop them.

I could feel each person/thing getting closer from their chakra, I could feel the outlines of my team's chakra, hear the taunts of Suigetsu, feel Kisame's chakra launching attack after attack. There was no chakra right in front of me until there was. The chakra had just appeared, it was gone and then there was someone there. I turned to strike but my hand was caught.

"Quick reflexes kid, calm down." Genma, no wonder. He could use a toned down version of the _thunder god_ from when he was taught by Minato as a Hokage guard, never thought I'd get to see it used by him. He looked worse for wear. There was blood covering his large coat and rips littered throughout the thing. His eye was bruised pretty nastily and a cut was on his cheek. "Time to get you to Shizune-chan, things are pretty bad over there." My chakra fluctuated and I wheezed as we were pulled to a different area of the battlefield.

"What the fuck." Was all I managed, looking at the fucking giant ass robot that had cannons for arms. Cannons that shot bright balls of chakra condensed and hot enough to melt through whatever it hit.

"What the fuck indeed." It ran on chakra differently than the last giant, this one couldn't move it's legs. It was rooted to the ground and drew chakra from the ground, from the life around it. It needed to be hit with something big to crush it completely.

"Is this the reason we came? To stop this monster." Another blast of that burning, laser chakra shot from the cannon. It was off to the distance but the cries were real. This thing needed to be stopped. I didn't have a giant Suigetso or Susano sized Sasuke right now and nobody had chakra so I had to make do.

"Yes." It didn't smell like blood here, it was so much worse. It smelled like burning flesh, there were bodies burned to the muscle and bone. This was the main base, it was overrun and being attacked. Our ninja fought back valiantly, even those covered in bandages were attacking and destroying what they could.

This was war pushing its end. It was the fighting of men who had nothing to lose, both sides were fighting like caged animals, to win, to survive. If we had to fight another day, even with the new provisions, it wouldn't matter. Chakra was low here, morale was obviously low, the loss would be too great to have any chance of winning if that thing wasn't gone. People were already planning to die.

Both sides had massive casualties and today would be the deciding factor. Either we crush them, breaking their weapons and their spirit or they kill us all and make it to the border, starting another great war. Genma was underselling how shitty it really was here. At some point my squad would catch up, but for now this falls on those of us in this area…those who are still able enough to fight.

I swiped the blood dripping from my lip, my hands running quickly through the seals I needed. I slammed my palm flat to the ground and expelled as much Chakra as I could dare, I had to keep my reserves full enough to fight and heal whoever Shizune needed me to. I was not a frontline fighter and combat medic for nothing.

The world spun with the massive flux of chakra, instead of the freezing sleet burning my cheeks and eyes, I was enveloped in a soft warmth. Muramasa's soft paw was pressed right beside me, guarding me and Genma from the cold weather. Ninja of all caliber stopped, turning to look at the giant Lion who had his fangs bared in a menacing growl.

"Had to be Ice huh kit?" His low voice purred, dripping with a disdain for the cold weather. "What do you need? I expect payment sooner or later." His tone turned sharp, menacing as he turned a predatory gaze to the war around him.

"I promise I will bring you whatever you want later. See that giant metal thingie?" His claws sprang from behind his paws, each larger than me and each looking menacingly sharp, shining like steel.

"The one taking chakra from what is living around it?" I nodded.

"Consider it a new toy, It has laser canons and those need to stop killing our soldiers. Destroy it." His head lowered and he licked up my body. I was his kit, part of his pride. We stuck together.

"Be safe kit." I nuzzled his nose with my own. Nobody dared to come near us yet, they knew he would kill them before they could try to land a shot.

"You too Muramasa-sama." The muscles in his body tensed and contracted, I could feel the deadly power emanating from him as he pounced at the bot, claws digging into the giant. The arms flowed with chakra, glowing brightly even to the naked eye and when the ball left the canon, Muramasa let out an ear splitting roar, the force of it pushing the laser right back at its creator. It slammed into the metal giant and the sound echoed for miles.

"Damn kid, Kakashi-kun really does have a team of monsters." Genma let out an impressed whistle as he readied himself to fight once more.

"Where is Shizune?" We ran, I followed a half step behind Genma as he directed me. Finally, I could see her, feel the familiar comfort of her deadly chakra. Shizune's chakra was getting low. She was spouting out poisoned Senbon and her hands were on Aoba's back, healing the dripping wound slashed across his chest.

Her dark eyes looked up as soon as we were in her line of vision and she smiled. It was as if the whole world slowed down in that second, right as she smiled at me and her worry melted into relief, chakra flared, light flashed. Shizune stumbled back and I moved on autopilot, my mind shut off completely.

Someone was screaming, it was full of guilt, pain, grief, anger. It was horrible to hear, it was the only thing I could hear. My mouth was open, I… I am the one screaming. Shizune had a hole straight through her chest. It was not clean, her insides were shredded and blood quickly pooled around her. I caught her before she even hit the ground. My hands were green as I tried to heal the wound. This was not supposed to happen.

Genma reacted in the same instance I did. The blast came from a man who had been difficult to kill this whole time, his chakra converted into beams of light hot enough to burn through flesh. As soon as Genma saw Shizune stumble, he was on the man, a white hot fury flowing through his very being. The man was dead before he had any time to scream, Genma mutilated the body and those around him before coming to my side.

"No no no no no. Dammit, no no. Come on Shizune. This-this wasn't… it's…my fault." I choked out, muttering incomprehensibly as I forced more and more chakra into her. Aoba was on guard, Raido also retreating to our side to guard us as I tried to heal her. Blood pooled from her lips and she breathed in choked, raspy breaths. Skin was hanging, some organs visible, I knew them, I could name each one but that did nothing. I…This is my fault.

I couldn't feel the snow against my face, the tears freezing as fast as they were coming, I couldn't hear the roars of Muramasa or the angered attacks of Genma. Everything was muffled, there was only Shizune, the gaping wound in her chest, and the overwhelming guilt flooding me. This was my fault, if I wasn't here, if it wasn't me she wouldn't be hurt like this.

No healing I was doing was making a difference, I prepared my chakra to break the seal, I'd most likely pass out after I use it but it was the only option. I readied myself and Shizune caught my hands before I could do any more. Both of her hands were wrapped around mine tightly, they were bloody, mine were bloody too, coated in a deep crimson of her life force fading.

She smiled, how could she smile at a time like this. It was that same smile she always gave me when we trained, though her eyes were different. They were accepting death, no no no she cant. Often Tsunade didn't have time to train me so when I was still learning to use mystic palm, Shizune was the one helping me.

She brought me lunch and praised me when I succeeded at something. She was so nice, strict but kind. She kept Tsunade grounded, she can't…NO. The seal might not heal something like this on another person but I have to try.

"You can't-You can't no."

"Hinata. Stop." She coaxed, her voice breathy. "Don't use the seal. Not for me, _please_."

"I have to."

"Don't. I wont forgive you. Don't trade your life span for mine."

"But I-" I was sobbing and she was still smiling. Why was she smiling. She was asking for me to let her die. Each pump of her heart blood gushed from the gaping, mutilated hole where her stomach used to be. Ino, I had to tell her. Her teacher, when she wasn't doing her apprenticeship with T&I she trained with Shizune. I..no.

"You grew up to such an amazing girl. I know you can lead them to victory. Tell Tsunade I-" She coughed up blood, her eyes shedding tears full of resigned acceptance. "Tell her I love her and make sure she d-doesn't drink too much. Tell Ino she… was a g-good student, the best." This is all my fault. She shouldn't have to say goodbye right now. What good is my power, what good was changing the future if people who were supposed to live die? Was this what I caused by playing god, one life saved so another one is gone?

Genma put a hand on my shoulder. Shizune looked up at him, her eyes seemed to glow with unsaid words, with regret, acceptance, love. They were so big, so loving. No, she-they.

"Stop, don't disrespect her like this." He eased me away and took my spot cradling her in his arms. He was crying, I don't think he knew he was crying. "I love you so much. All these years, you're still the one for me. We might not have a wedding but you are my eternity." Genma wasn't one for words, he liked action but these, these were so personal. Shizune looked radiant even covered in blood.

"Forever, I'll love you. Don't die here. Not you too." She whispered back, struggling to get any more out. He brushed her hair from her face and kissed her, the blood didn't matter to him. None of it. They kissed until she ran out of breath, until she died. He closed her eyes and lay her down, the air shifting into one so sinister it felt like death itself.

Genma, Raido, Aoba, even Ebisu was here and they were all exuding such intense KI. I think I was too but I'm not sure. All I know is her blood is what is staining my hands, my gloves were dripping with my failure. They are all going to die. This war is over, I don't deserve anything but I have to make it home, I will fulfill her dying wishes and end this.

A cold clarity entered me, I was angry at myself, at this war, at everyone in this damned village of ice. I had only felt so merciless when fighting Orochimaru, but that was a blind rage. I don't remember fighting or killing him or anyone else. This was different, I could see everything, feel everything.

I would never forget this moment, this entire goddamned war. I knew each face, could remember each person I crushed under my fist, each jutsu I used to suffocate for break a person. The water needles that turned machine's into pin cushions. They were no match, I couldn't feel any hit, any cut to my skin, any bruise. They were nothing to any of us, they were gone, their once proud army was being crippled.

I don't know when Naruto met up with us, he was the only one. Everyone else stayed back to fight with Kisame. I didn't see him, I didn't know Naruto was there until I could _feel _him. He saw her, he saw Shizune. The raging killer intent stopped and was replaced with a fury that made my chakra writhe, it was so deadly and ferocious, filled with such anger, my skin itched from the pressure.

Everything was red, the sleet no longer froze, the ground shook and burned with chakra. Muramasa picked me up by the hood of my coat and shielded me. Naruto screamed it was pure anguish. Genma's chakra disappeared as soon as it came the first time, others followed, it wasn't the chakra retreat of those who died, it was just gone in a flash. People cried, begged, they were scared, there were rumbles, chakra burned my senses and I had to close my strained eyes. Then… silence.

Muramasa let me down, licked the blood from my skin and clothing the best he could, grooming me like I was one of his babies. It was gross but I didn't move. When he was done I stumbled to Naruto, Muramasa standing guard for if anyone else showed up.

Naruto was laying flat in the ground, the chakra retreating from around him. It was over. His skin was gone in some areas, burned by chakra. I couldn't do much for his chakra wounds but I mended the skin as much as possible. He was out cold but his eyes puffy, he cried.

I don't know how long I sat there with Naruto, looking at his wounds slowly mend. Everything was slowly beginning to hurt, exhaustion was creeping in. I was tired of everything. Kisame showed up sometime later. Shigetsu, Sasuke, Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru in tow.

"It's over." We won, the cost was high but it was over. Nobody really looked excited or relieved, everyone was somber and still tense, ready for another wave of attack. A quick glance to Shizune and the battlefield and they pieced together what happened. Sasuke raised me to my feet and I slumped into his hold, Kisame took me from the Uchiha telling him to carry Naruto since nobody else could.

He was limping and dead on his feet but he still dragged the blonde, following behind Kisame.

We went to the base I was supposed to be at earlier, maybe if I was faster. No, I had to peace myself back together so we can go home, only then can I break. Tsunade can punish me for my failure.

I retied my hair back, it was brittle with blood and grime. My hands were bleached clean and I had a white lab coat on. I healed who I could, moving silently on my feet. I was tired, sleepwalking but they needed to be healed enough to travel home. The sooner we can leave the better.

Genma, Kisame, Raido, Aoba. All were healed enough to do whatever I directed them to do. We wrapped wounds, gave food and water, packed up supplies. Genma volunteered to seal away all the bodies and burn those not from Konohagakure. He left with a few others and they did the job none us wanted to.

My team was asleep, none of them were at peace though. I could see it in the furrow of their brows even during rest. This war opened our eyes to the life of a shinobi, the good the bad and the ugly of what we really were.

"I need the list of the dead." A field nurse, Shin, gave me the list. Most names were people I didn't know personally, their blood was still on my hands. Izumo, Kotetsu. They were on the list of the dead. My fault. They weren't going to be there to greet us or make stupid jokes and make it difficult for Kakashi to enter the village anymore. My fault. At the bottom. Shizune. My fault. I put the names of those we missed. My fault.

This village was a hidden village but unlike one of the larger ones, there were no true civilians. There were retired shinobi and children too young to fight yet but no civilians. The last directive we were given, the one that I hated the most. We had to burn this village to the ground. Children and all. Kisame was the one who offered, he and some of the ANBU went to their evacuation area and finished the job. When Shikamaru meets up with us, Deidara was going to flatten the area.

I fell asleep to the sight of Shizune's blood, the smile she gave even when bleeding out, the pain and anguish, the countless deaths. The only comfort I had in the Ice-land, even though I didn't deserve it, was with my team. It didn't matter, everything hurt, so bad it was numb. _My fault._

I buried into Sasuke's side, squeezing the life out of him. He didn't care, returning the gesture with equal force. Naruto was on my other side, his body sore and bandaged but he still held me, deep in sleep. Suigetsu slept above me, his sleeping bag perpendicular to my head. War, even for someone who craved battle like him was rough. Kiba slept with Shino at my feet, Akamaru being cuddled between the two.

Kisame didn't sleep even when we told him to. He just left to go bring Shikamaru's squad and the Akatsuki to us. That worried me, what if they didn't make it too. _My Fault._

Shikamaru's squad, the Akatsuki, and the other survivors came to meet us at our base, following tiredly behind Kisame. They looked as shitty as we did, everyone dragging their feet and some people were being carried. Everyone went to greet their friends, though none of us really were in the mood to say anything. We hugged, glad to see one another alive but nobody had a spark of life in their eyes like normal. They were tense, on edge, and looking traumatized all in one.

Dried blood was crusted on everyone, and wrappings done by Ino covered injuries that couldn't be fully healed without more supplies. Shika's head was wrapped thickly in bandages and his chakra was almost nonexistent. Choji was skinnier than I'd ever seen and was dead on his feet. Ino was bruised and slow but relatively fine. Lee had a nasty black eye and he was limping, being held up by Neji who was hunched over with a wound on his stomach. Tenten had her cheek covered in gauze and her left arm was in a sling.

Deidara was covered in ash , his foot was in a bloody cast, and he was barely awake on Sasori's Hiruko shell. Hidan was unhurt of course but his clothes were basically ripped to shreds and the signs of Kakuzu's stitching were obvious. Kakuzu's mask was gone and his skin looked paler than normal.

I cringed when I saw Ino, all I could think of was Shizune. She marched up to me and grabbed my arm. I yanked it back out of reflex. The adrenaline was wearing gone, the numbness was fading and I had been trying to ignore the pain I was in…at least until Ino decided to make it obvious.

At some point I had crushed the knuckles of my third and fourth fingers and my wrist was most definitely broken. I didn't notice the pain and swelling until recently, didn't matter. I deserved the pain and everyone else needed more help than I did. I can travel with my hand hurting. Ino disagreed, she dragged me to one of the cots and forced me to sit down.

"You idiot. What the hell are you doing not setting your bones yet." She gripped my wrist and with a painful snap, pushed the bone that was split into two back into alignment. It hurt, I didn't even flinch. I had to tell her.

"Ino, Shizune-" She cut me off, still talking but her blue eyes shone with acceptance. She already knew, she had to of known. She didn't sense Shizune when she came to camp, she looked around and didn't see her. She already knew and I still had to tell her. She needed to know it was my fault, she could put the blame on me.

"You look like shit Hinata. How did you even do this to yourself? I didn't think I'd have to look after you too." Her hands glowed green and her chakra forced it's away into my wrist, healing the cuts and mending the shell of the bones enough that they would heal properly. Not much else could be done for bones.

"Ino…" She casted my wrist and my fingers, not meeting my eye. My arm was strapped to my chest, my right hand laying just above my heart.

"Don't say it. I…I know already. I just…I can't right now." Her voice cracked and she pulled the straps keeping my hand bound to my body that much tighter.

"But it's my-" Ino stood up and walked away. Choji wrapped and arm around her and she shook slightly as he held her. Everything was packed away finally and all of us ate before beginning the trek back home. Deidara leveled the village as we left, passing out completely after the large array of explosions.

The trek back home was long and quiet. Everyone was dealing with their own demons, their own grief, their own anxieties and it was hard to talk about anything. Even Hidan was quiet, muttering his prayers until we finally passed over the ocean and the threshold of the freezing climate to the better temperament of the area right outside the land of fire.

We slept as a group, everyone still tense and battle ready. Even the slightest ruffle of a plant had at least 10 kunai drawn for attack. Once within the countries borders, we stopped and stripped of the extra clothing. There was a river and I had never been more glad to see water. It finally gave all of us to clean ourselves, to wash away the reminders of the lives we had taken, the lives we had lost.

I struggled, I couldn't get in the water to clean myself. Cleaning my clothes with one hand was just as hard. I couldn't get the blood out of Tsume's jacket, I couldn't get Shizune's blood out of Tsume's jacket. It was there, dark and mocking, a deep stain showing how it was because of me. Blood was skill caked onto my skin, I couldn't get it off. Reminding me of my failure, how it was my fault, how her blood was on my hands.

Neji placed his hands over my own, stopping my movements. He was cleaned, his hair still dripping from the water. He had a bucket of water placed next to me and carefully pried the cloth from my hand.

"Let me do it, I will always be here to help you." Neji submerged the coat in water and placed a stone over it so it couldn't float away. He pulled the sopping towel from the bucket and cleaned my arms, my neck, my face. He was carefully wiping away all the blood and grime layered on my skin. The white towel turned a brownish red. He dipped it back into the bucket and did one more round of scrubbing my skin. When my skin was clear of all the blood, he pulled my hair free of the braid it had been stuck in for who knows how long.

He began to pour the water over my head, the once clear water began to run red with the blood coming from my hair. He filled the bucket and did it once more, his fingers helping to brush through the tangles, making it easier for the blood to come out. He did it until my hair was totally clean, free of any traces of the battle that we had fought in.

He cleaned Tsume's jacket. Using soap and a stone to rid the fabric of the blood. There were holes I'd patch later but at least now I could give her the jacket back. Even cleaned, I could still see Shizune's blood on my hands. Izumo and Kotetsu's blood was there too. Even cleaned, it was still there if I stared too hard at my free hand. When I closed my eyes I could see it. I held the sopping wet jacket in my hands and cried. It was just me and Neji, he said nothing, he didn't need to. His presence was enough. He just continued washing the rest of my gear and weapons as I sobbed.

When we returned to the village, everyone turned in their mission reports and went home. I was the only one left in her office. Tsunade knew already, Shizune wasn't here and she knew why. Tsunade brought out a bottle of Sake and took a large swig straight from the bottle.

"What happened?" She let out a weary sigh, blinking slowly as she prepared herself to hear everything. I slumped to my knees, gripping my fist closed tightly as I spoke.

"I'm sorry. It was my fault…I..I should have been there sooner…" I spilled all I could remember from Shizune's death, Tsunade stayed quiet the entire time. She blamed me as much as I did. "It's my fault..If I…If I wasn't born here..if I didn't change anything…she'd be here. She'd be with Genma…alive…my fault…it's my…my fault."

"Did you know?" She cut in, her fingers rubbing into her temples to relieve the ache in her mind. There was no anger but there should have been.

"No…I thought if I could save everyone who had died…I thought…everything would work out…how could I have been so stupid! I traded their lives for others…First Sakura now them…I…I killed them all." Tsunade cut me off, brought me back to the present with slapping me across the cheek. It burned and brought tears to my eyes from the force.

"Stop, brat. Do not blame yourself for something you have _no_ control over. Sure, you changed things, people died who didn't originally but that also means people lived. People who deserved second chances now can have them, Shizune wouldn't ever want her life to be saved if it meant those who are living now to die. People die all the time, but she gave her life for something she believed in. Do not disrespect her death like that. You didn't know, you can't know everything, it is in no way your fault. Things change and that is not all because of you. How vain do you have to be to think everything revolves around your actions. You are not god, you cannot save everyone. You can grieve, but you cannot blame yourself for what you have no control over."

"But…" She shut me up with a glance. She was angry with me, not at me. I couldn't understand, she should be blaming me.

"If you really are so weak willed and cannot take the repercussions of your actions, the good and the bad that comes from you being here then stop. Stop trying to change anything, let those who are going to die, die and hopefully nobody else does. That's what you want right? This is life, not some kind of movie, things are good but things also end badly, you have to be the one to keep fighting through that, to keep trying or your life here really will be worthless. If you do nothing, if you had done nothing just because you were afraid of what would change and let people die without even trying, then their blood will be on your hands."

I was stunned into silence, left to ponder over her words. She…she was right. This was real life, I was not god, I was not the main character. People died and it was out of my control, I changed things for the better for many people and giving up now, I…I would be shitting on those who died and be the reason for those to die if the future ends up the same. If I never tried, it would be worse than knowing and doing nothing. The future is different, I know nothing of what it to come but I have to fight.

"You…you are right." She scoffed like that was the most obvious thing in the world. I guess, it might have been.

"Of course I'm right brat." Tsunade placed a hand on my shoulder and used her free hand to point right at my heart. "You are Hinata, Hinata is you, this is _your _life so you damn well are gonna act like it. You didn't kill her, you didn't take something that wasn't yours. You are you, forget the future if you need to, just live. Fight for what you believe in, don't start to make your second chance at life worthless."

"Ok." For so long I had thought of it as fake, then I accepted it as real but still felt like I was taking something that didn't belong to me..but Hinata is me. I don't remember being anyone else, I don't want to be anyone else. I love my family, _my _family, my friends, my life, everything I have worked for. Finally accepting that I'm Hinata, hearing that someone else believes I am Hinata and she is me, that I wasn't taking someone else's life, that I had so little control over how real life works eased a weight from my shoulders I didn't even know I was holding.

"You need it, you look like shit." Tsunade handed be a cup of Sake, I downed the fiery liquid in a single gulp, lips pursing at the burn.  
"Ino said as much." I smiled, it was broken and filled with sorrow but no longer the self loathing guilt that had been pressing on my soul for who knows how long. Tsunade returned the look, and we both took a drink in membrane of Shizune, and another for all the other lives lost.

"Go home." I left, feeling Jiraiya's chakra enter through the window as Tsunade cried. The walk home I was on edge, ready to fight on every corner. Everyone was home getting comfort for what we had just gone through and I wanted nothing more than to go hold Hanabi and have dad sit me in his lap like when I was small.

With or without my guilt, the war changed something in me, in all of us. It was scary, possibly the scariest thing I had ever been through. I could feel every chakra around me and my muscles were coiled to fight even back home. I was fight or flight, I could see the blood and smell the death, something I didn't think was going to change any time soon.

I got home and went to find Hanabi right away. Her chakra was easy to sense, always trying to sense what was around me during the war heightened my skills. I could sense chakra without even trying now, not a far area but far enough. She was doing her nightly training with dad, her movements perfectly graceful and powerful. She was strong, so freaking strong.

The both stopped when I entered the room. My clothes were ripped, I was in a cast, I looked like shit. Hanabi came when I opened my arm, and I pulled her to my chest, burying my face into her hair.

"I was so worried! You were gone for so long." She held onto my waist tightly and I blinked back the tears.

"I know. I know." I mumbled into her hair, forcing myself to forget the kids who killed mercilessly, the ones we slaughtered that were her age. It was Hanabi, I had to focus only on her presence, on her being here. On father, his comforting chakra. Being hime, not frozen, not killing, not watching people die.

"Does that mean Kakuzu-sama is here too?" She was excited, her big eyes hopeful for his return.

"Yep, I'm sure he'd love a visit." She muttered how excited she was to see him. Her fingers traced the cast on my hand, a soft frown on her face. I told her I was ok and it would heal soon enough.

"I am glad you are home safe." Hiashi's voice was a quiet rumble and as poised as always. I looked up at him, feeling small again.

"Papa. It was…" I had no words to describe everything but he understood. He had seen it before. He took a look at my face, the look I was giving him and he adhered to my want. I was training to be clan head, Shinobi didn't show emotions but he didn't reprimand me.

"I understand." He scooped Hanabi and I into his arms and headed to his office. He sat at his desk where he wrote out mission reports and handled the clan duties. I sat in his lap, still much smaller than him. My back pressed against his chest and he placed his chin on my head, looking over his work. Hanabi was in my lap, smiling happily at our family time. He had his arms around us as he worked dutifully.

Rukia came in at one point asking if we needed anything and he had her prepare us dinner. He even had her make pork Gyoza which was one of my favorite's and we rarely had it because my father didn't consider it healthy enough.

Hanabi was the first one to fall asleep and then he asked me about what I could tell him. I told him everything we did and he gave me advice on how to cope. Telling me it was hard but as Hyuga and a shinobi it was my job to endure and grow stronger. I watched him work and asked questions about some of what he was doing. Soon enough, the explanations and comforting rumble of his chest eased me into an exhausted sleep, one where I was finally less on edge.

Hiashi carried Hanabi and I back to our rooms and when he attempted to leave me alone, I clung to him even in my sleep. He stayed with me for a while longer until I released him and he was able to go sleep in his own bed. I didn't like sleeping alone, I was afraid of being alone. That was when the demons came out, all my issues, my fears and having someone there kept them at bay.

My dreams were plagued with blood and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't wake up until a chakra revealed itself. I shot up in a panic, attacking the chakra that appeared. It was too fast and I was crushed under a weight that more than doubled my own. It was only when the wet, slimy tongue licked my face that I stopped thrashing.

Bull was lying right over my stomach…I was in my room, in my bed, not freezing. He was heavy but he avoided putting any weight on my broken hand, the sweet dog he was.

"Nightmare?" I nodded and breathed in deeply as my racing pulse calmed down. "Alpha has those too." He rolled off of me and nuzzled my injured hand softly. Licking the cast as a get well soon. The big scary boy was such a sweetie. He moved behind me so I could use him as a pillow.

"Did Kakashi-sensei send you?" I held my hand out and Bull licked it. He opened his mouth and playfully munched on it.

"Yes, Naruto has Pakkun and Sasuke has Akino. He got home a few hours ago, very unhappy." It was sweet, Kakashi was terrible with emotions and human interaction but him sending us all one of his Ninken to keep us company was heart warming.

"Why?" I hoped nothing happened on his mission to piss him off, a genuinely angry Kakashi was not a fun one to be around.

"You went to war without him. You are all Kakashi's pack and he could not protect you." No wonder, with the way his first war went when Minato wasn't around, it's not a surprise he's pissed. He knows how fucked up it is and is trying to make up for his absence, trying to help us in the most Kakashi way possible.

"So this is his way of comforting us?" I smiled lightly, letting the warmth of Bull and the thought of Kakashi trying to figure out how to help his students without seeming like he cares too much warm my soul. I scratched behind his ears and kissed his black fur, telling him how much I loved him. Bull basked in the praise…I definitely spoil his dogs too much.

"Yes, war is hard. He believed we would be better than him coming himself." I rolled my eyes, leave it to Kakashi to be like that. It was still sweet to send us companions, even that was slightly surprising. It showed he really cared, as much as he probably wished he didn't.

"He's a loser." Bull snickered with me, very much in agreement with my assessment of his emotionally constipated master. It was still early morning but I was too awake to go back to sleep. I got up and stretched, letting out a pleased groan as my bones cracked. "Mmm, are you mine all day?" I slowly got to my feet, wincing at the throb of my broken fingers.

"Yes." Perfect, I was hungry and Bull would eat anything I fed him. I started stripping out of my clothes from the day before, they were gross and I smelled like garbage. The shirt was ruined so I just cut the whole thing off.

"Food?" He was up, his tail wagging excited for breakfast. I got to the bathroom and did my best to clean with a wash cloth, at least now I had better smelling soap. Once I was clean, thanks to Bulls assistance, I dressed in a loose shirt and some shorts, my arm still tucked to my chest. In a few days I can undo the bindings and after a week or so the cast can come off, if only I had super-healing like Naruto. My eyes were red and puffy from mourning but they were better than yesterday.

I wanted comfort food and the first thing that came to mind was pancakes. My getting the ingredients out was loud enough to wake Hanabi, her room was closest to the kitchen and for such a light sleeper, it was enough to wake her. She padded into the kitchen and looked between Bull and I in confusion, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Wha'ru doing." She questioned, coming to stand beside the dog who dwarfed her in size. He nudged her and she scratched behind his ears.

"Making breakfast. Wanna help?" She nodded and washed her hands. She tied her apron on and I began explaining what to do. We had to create maple syrup from scratch but it was a fun challenge, one I'm very glad she helped me with because Hanabi was way better at cooking than me.

I flung flower in her face and she retorted by cracking an egg on my head. Nobody else was awake so they couldn't tell us how to act, we just got to have fun and bot worry about being good heiress's. Hanabi was giggling as our food fight began and when I flung a spoonful of butter at her, she moved and it hit Bull. He licked it off and then joined in. We covered the kitchen in ingredients, as well as one another. It was a beautiful mess.

"What are you doing?" Neji came in to check on me, he was still on leave to heal like the rest of us. Hanabi and I exchanged glances and charged. With his slow reaction due to his injuries, Bull easily pinned him while Hanabi and I dumped all the flour we had left onto his face. He sneezed and flour went everywhere. "Was that necessary?" He wasn't angry, just confused and slightly annoyed at getting flour in his hair.

"Yes." We all chorused. I pulled him to his feet and he joined us in making breakfast, making enough rice and eggs to feed a village. When we were finished, there were hundreds of small pancakes, a pot of syrup, pounds of eggs, and an entire bag of rice. We scarfed down the food, we even got health nut Neji to eat a pancake and he liked them as much as we did.

With the help of Rukia and Hiashi, we washed up and carried the rest of the food to feed everyone else since they were getting up soon. We fed Lee first, him proclaiming it was the food perfect for re-igniting his flames of youth. Tenten was just as excited for the sweet and savory breakfast, agreeing that it was perfect comfort food. Hidan and Deidara burned through their food in seconds, Kakuzu more refined but he liked it as well. Hanabi was so excited to give him his food, putting extra care into making his look perfect.

Kiba wolfed down his food and almost choked, Shino gratefully ate it, his Kikaichu liking the sweetness of the maple syrup. Ino moaned as she ate, she was no longer on her diet kick and the pancakes were a godsend, perfect food to eat when sad. Choji loved them and I explained how to make them, his mom would love to create their own versions someday and I gladly volunteered to try them.

Shikamaru was somber but when I forced him to eat, he looked a bit less dead to the world. Sasuke being the sweets hater he is, I turned all of his food into a burrito and used a pancake as a shell. It wasn't too sweet and he ate it with little distaste. Naruto ate it, saying ramen is better but ours was still pretty dang good. I even brought Tsunade some, her using the carbs from the pancakes to lessen her hangover. She informed me a funeral for those lost would be held a week from now.

All in all, with the time all of us had for the last month or so, food wasn't much to ease the grief and anxiety of battle but it still was something, a way of showing we were still there for one another.

Piece by piece, day by day, I was slowly healing from the self-loathing, the guilt, the traumatizing memories of war. It was slow and would take time but I wanted to do it.

I was riding on Bulls back to the training grounds. Kakashi had called a team meeting, I wasn't cleared to train yet, neither was Sasuke. My hand was still in a cast set to come off in a few days and Sasuke still had a concussion. We all arrived at around the same time, dogs trailing behind both boys of team 7. Both were amused at my arrival.

"Yo." He had an excuse ready but none of us even reacted to his lateness. When Kakashi arrived, he took one look at us and looked ready to bolt. His stormy eye looking around for an exit before his shoulders slumped almost unnoticeably. He instantly regretted being forced to call a team meeting. The festering emotions flowing through all of his students, it was horrible. He didn't handle his own emotions so thinking he could handle ours was out of the question. When he realized that he couldn't leave and we were waiting for his guidance, he sighed and sat down in front of us.

To him we all looked like little puppies again, waiting to be told what to do. He wanted to run. All of his ninken were highly amused at his reaction. He ran his hands through his hair and decided to just get on with it, at least none of us were crying…though all of us had a sharp yet melancholy look that only came with war. He didn't know what was worse.

"Maa, want to talk about why all of my cute students look so gloomy?" We all looked at Kakashi like he was an idiot. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, well…tell me… what the hardest thing is." So this was like team therapy…led by Kakashi? Naruto's eyes were far away, he was thinking deeply about something.

"I have nightmares…I can still see Shizune's blood on my hands. I can see everyone I killed each night when I sleep. Sometimes they kill me, sometimes I kill them, sometimes they kill who I love." His slate gray eye flinched slightly, looking away from me before Bull nudged him. Mine hit a little close to home.

"Maa maa, there's not much to fix the nightmares but know that her death, their deaths aren't your fault. You fight and kill for a reason just like they did, there is no better honor in their death than to die for what they were fighting for. As much as you feel guilty, know that they died for what they believed in and try to forgive yourself." He placed a gloved hand on my head and ruffled my hair messily. His eye was curved into a smile, it wasn't real and he still looked flighty but he was here and that's all that mattered to any of us.

"Hn…we leveled an entire village, we murdered families." Sasuke was distraught at killing so many destroying entire families. He was guilty, he felt conflicted at what to feel. Kakashi didn't even look phased at Sasuke's statement, there was no shock only acceptance. He paused for a second, thinking of the best response to give.

"Terrible yes…but what would have happened if they made it to Konoha?" Kakashi asked, easing back to rest on his palms as Sasuke worked through everything.

"They…they would have killed all of our families." Kakashi gave an easy smile, he didn't know much but he at least wanted to help us figure out things before we ended up like he did.

"It's not right but that is the life of a ninja. We protect our families, our village even if it sometimes means doing things we don't want to." Sasuke nodded and it seemed like his shoulders relaxed just slightly.

It was quiet for a minute before Naruto abruptly shot up, Pakkun tumbling from his lap. His cerulean eyes were brighter than they had been in weeks and the blazing fire of determination was back. He clenched his tanned hands into fists and held one out in front of him.

"I can't accept that 'ttebayo. We killed people fighting for the same reason as us. I hated it, we shouldn't be killing one another when all of us strive for the same thing. It's not fair, I can't accept that. I don't want more people to die, not anymore. I, Naruto Uzumaki am going to end war for good. I'm going to break the cycle of hatred. I'm going to end the distrust between the villages and bring peace to the Shinobi world no matter what it takes 'ttebayo."

The sun seemed to emit from his body, surrounding him in a cloak of light. The three of us looked at him and his grin was infectious.

"I'm sure you will Naruto-kun. If anyone can it's you." Kakashi shined with pride of his student, he really was Minato's kid.

"Hn, I'll be right there with you dobe." Sasuke smirked, if Naruto would do it, Sasuke planned on helping. He believed in Naruto's goal, all of us did.

"I believe in you Naru, I'll back you up no matter what." I held my fist out and he pushed his against mine. This was the hero, the one I fought to stand beside and change the world.


End file.
